


OFF THE WALL

by mikeythemage



Series: Off The Wall Cinematic Universe [1]
Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe, Spider-Man (Tom Holland Movies)
Genre: Angst, Avengers: Endgame (Movie) Compliant, Avengers: Endgame (Movie) Spoilers, Awkward Flirting, Bisexual Peter Parker, Coming of Age, Emotional Baggage, F/F, Family Dynamics, Fluff, Hurt/Comfort, Idiots in Love, Lesbian Michelle Jones, M/M, Minor Character Death, Not Spider-Man: Far From Home Compliant, Peter Parker Needs a Break, Post-Avengers: Endgame (Movie), Post-Spider-Man: Homecoming, Secret Identities, Slow Burn (kinda), Superheroes, Torture, excessive use of the word dude, flirty banter, homoerotically beating up criminals with your homie, not beta we die like men, not one of the mains tho, things could not have gone worse after they had been going right for so long
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-11-09
Updated: 2020-11-12
Packaged: 2021-03-09 03:35:32
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 4
Words: 33,276
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27478165
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/mikeythemage/pseuds/mikeythemage
Summary: "𝐘𝐎𝐔 𝐀𝐒𝐊𝐄𝐃 𝐌𝐄 𝐖𝐇𝐀𝐓 𝐈 𝐓𝐇𝐈𝐍𝐊 𝐎𝐅 𝐋𝐈𝐊𝐄"Moving across the country because your dad got laid off at his old job is hard enough as it is, but having superpowers on top of it? Yikes...
Relationships: May Parker (Spider-Man) & Peter Parker, May Parker (Spider-Man) & Reader, Michelle Jones & Ned Leeds & Peter Parker, Michelle Jones & Ned Leeds & Peter Parker & Shuri, Michelle Jones & Reader, Ned Leeds & Reader, Peter Parker & Shuri, Peter Parker/Reader, Shuri (Marvel) & Reader
Series: Off The Wall Cinematic Universe [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2010877
Comments: 3
Kudos: 51





	1. "I think Spider-Man is cool."

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> And like that, our story begins.

"Do you even know what to do in that situation? Like, how exactly do you manage through that?" Ned asked his best friend, Peter, who seems exhausted. Ever since the incidents that took place during the battle with Thanos no more than a month ago, Peter had been tired all the time.

Especially after everything that happened with Tony, he was just out of it, constantly. Schoolwork wasn't a priority to him anymore, even if he did still do it he didn't care about it as much as he used to, all of the conversations he had with Ned became pretty much one sided, he didn't even bother coming out of his room to eat. Needless to say he was a mess. Tony was like a father to him, and now he was gone. He just couldn't believe it.

"No idea, Ned." The brunette replies in a tone that radiates a tiredness no sleep could ever shake off. Ned's face drops. He's been talking for the past twenty minutes, and usually Peter is incredibly engaged, but that hasn't been the case recently. Ned can't blame him, he's heard about everything that happened at the Thanos battle and it's a lot for any teenager to process, but he wishes Peter could go back to his regular old self. Just so that he wouldn't have to carry all of that sadness on his shoulders.

Ned's about to say something else, ask him if he want's to come over later, but the bell rings, and Peter turns around to face the board and Ned realizes that the conversation is over. 

At the front of the class, a boy around their age, is standing at the side of the teacher, Mr. Larson's, desk. The two are talking, the boy gesticulating wildly with his hands with a large smile on his face and the teacher seems to be enjoying whatever he's saying if his own smile is anything to go by. The boy, who had [H/C] hair with [S/C] skin, wears a deep blue shirt with torn black jeans, and a pair of white vans with small little doodles littered across them. 

Eventually, Mr. Larson turns to the rest of the room, "Alright class, we have a new student today." he gestures over to the new kid, "His name is [Y/N] [L/N]. Say hello, everyone." The teacher said. A series of uninterested 'Hi's" came from around the room.

The teacher sighs, and turns to [Y/N]. "Why don't you introduce yourself, [Y/N]?"

[Y/N] looks out across the sea of faces, surveying, before landing on Peter. He raises an eyebrow, and Peter raises one back, before he smiles and turns to look at the entire class again, "Hey y'all, my name is [Y/N], but you already knew that." he chuckles a bit, bouncing on the balls of his feet, "I just moved here from California, not the bay area California but the more agricultural part which is why I don't exactly sound like a total surfer dude but more of a half-baked farm hand." some people laugh at that, "I have an older sister that I live with as well as my dad, and they're pretty cool sometimes. Oh! I also have a lizard!" [Y/N] is smiling just as wide as he was when he walked in.

"So, anybody have any questions for Mr. [L/N], here?"

M.J raises her hand from her seat in the back. Not surprising, but also not expected. She isn't one to talk much in class, but she also isn't one to miss out on a chance to interrogate some poor kid.

"Yes, Michelle?" Mr. Larson calls on her.

"Why is he joining so late in the year?" M.J asks, raising a brow.

"It's February."

"My point exactly."

[Y/N] just waves Mr. Larson off, "It's fine, Mr. L. I don't mind." he assures him before turning to look at M.J. "My dad got laid off at his old job, so his cousin Ethan let him stay in an apartment building he owns here until he gets back on his feet."

There's some looks of sympathy that spread across the room. Something like that always sucks. M.J just nods, looking a little bit bad for asking in the first place.

Next, a guy name Riley raises his hand, "What's your lizards name?"

[Y/N] smiles again, "Merlin."

Riley nods his head, "Sick."

The next twenty minutes of class consists of [Y/N] answering questions from the people in his class, a smile on his face the entire time. Mr. Larson asks if anyone else has anymore questions after [Y/N] had just finished telling Hannah the story of how he accidentally broke his sisters finger, and Peter raises his hand without realizing it.

"Mr. Parker, what's your question?"

Everyone turns to look at him, mostly in shock, but no one is more shocked than Ned. Peter's been extremely quiet ever since the blip, so this is completely out of character as of late. Peter freezes after dropping his hand, turning from Mr. Larson to [Y/N], who is giving as encouraging a look as he can, before he thinks up a random question.

"Uhm," he dry swallows, "who's your... favorite Star Wars character?"

A few people snicker, but [Y/N]'s eyes light up. "Oh, definitely JarJar Binks." Peter barely has time to look offended before he's speaking again, "I'm kidding. God, could you imagine? But yeah, I'm personally a really big fan of Vader. Not for like, edgy reasons, I just always like a character with a deeper lore than they let on. Especially the whole 'ruthless killer thing', I always love a villain like that when they get their comeuppance. And his costume was extremely aesthetically pleasing, at least to me, and my dad refused to tell me anything about the Star Wars movies or let me watch anything with references to them so I could get the full experience without any spoilers. And I also think it's really funny that everyone thinks the line is ' _Luke, I am your father_ ' when it's actually ' _No, I am your father_ ', because it's one of the most iconic lines in film history and everyone always gets it wrong. The fact that he had been related to the main character the entire time was so jarring to me, my little brain barely knew how to handle it. Plus, the Deathstar is totally cool." 

[Y/N] finishes his rant, and Peter has a huge smile on his face. He's never heard someone talk about Star Wars that much with him besides Ned and his Uncle Ben. "Word. Although I personally have always loved Yoda because of the 'old mentor that looks like he's about to turn to dust' trope."

[Y/N] chuckles a bit, "Valid."

Mr. Larson ends the conversation and sits [Y/N] down next to Taylor, a blonde girl with a weird thing against people who aren't native to Queens, and class finally starts. It's nothing new, Peter barely even has to follow along to understand whats happening, and before he knows it the day is halfway over and he's sitting at lunch.

He's sat down at the usual table with Ned and MJ, barely even listening to the conversation they're having. From the small tidbits he picked up, it's something about their history teacher accidentally Asher F. an antisemitic slur in the middle of them talking about the Holocaust. It's not the first time it's happened, but it's the first time someones actually gone to the Principal about it. About damn time, in Peter's opinion.

A fourth tray is dropped onto the table, startling all three teenagers out of what they were doing, as [Y/N] sits down at the table and picks up his apple. M.J. raises a brow, as expected, Ned looks as confused as a horse in a swimming pool, and Peter sits up straight for the first time in a couple of days to make a good first (second?) impression.

"Hey," Peter says, "what are you doing?"

[Y/N] stops mid bite and sets his apple back down, "Eating my lunch?"

"Well, yeah, I can see that. But why here?"

The [H/C] haired boy shrinks in on himself a bit, "I can leave if you want me to." he says, and Peter panics.

"No! It's totally okay that you're sitting here, I just don't know why you are." he rushes to explain, and [Y/N]s pep seems to come back.

"Well," he says, "You were the only person to ask me a Star Wars question earlier. Figured y'all would be a riot to sit with if we've got similar interests."

Peter nods, and Ned finally takes his chance to speak up, "Your favorite character is Darth Vader, but what's your favorite movie?"

[Y/N] smiles again, "Probably Empire Strikes Back. I know, totally basic, but it's just so legit!"

The two talk back and forth about the movie as M.J returns to her book and Peter watches from the sidelines.

"I have to disagree with you, guy dude," [Y/N] says, and Peter does a double take.

"Guy dude?" He asks, and [Y/N] turns to look at him a bit embarrassed.

"Well, yeah. It's not like I know your names."

Peter's eyes widen, "Oh Jesus! You're right, uhm. That's Ned and M.J" he points at the two when he says their names, "and I'm Peter. Parker. Peter Parker." he holds out a hand for [Y/N] to shake.

[Y/N] looks down at Peter's had before grasping it with a smile, "Well Mr. Parker, it's a pleasure to make your acquaintance."

"Hey, Penis Parker!" an all too familiar voice rings out, [Y/N] turns around to see who it is while the other three at the table let out an annoyed sigh and the cafeteria goes quiet, "Did you get the new kid to be your boyfriend already?"

Peter cringes and expects [Y/N] to completely deny it. To get up and leave the table and never talk to them ever again, because that's what happened the last time someone new tried to sit at their table. But instead [Y/N] just rolls his eyes and says, "What are you gonna do if he did?"

Flash seems taken aback at the response, he obviously expected the same thing Peter did, before he lets out an answer, "Well, I wouldn't believe you because no one would ever like Penis."

The blue clad boy chuckles a little bit, "That's just statistically not right."

Flash goes a light shade of red as he realizes what that must of sounded like, and a few kids laugh. "What the fuck ever!" the boy replies before sitting down with his friends again.

[Y/N] turns back to the rest of the table as the cafeteria goes back to it's usual noise and is met with the shell-shocked face of Ned.

"Dude, what was that?" he asks.

[Y/N] raises a brow "What was what?"

"You totally just shut Flash up in like, fifteen seconds." Ned exclaims.

"You also totally embarrassed him." M.J hasn't even looked up from her book throughout the entire ordeal.

[Y/N] just shrugs, "Yeah, well, maybe he shouldn't have been a dick."

Ned and [Y/N] continue their little debate before M.J. butts in. "As great as it is to see you nerds talk about some of the most popular movies in the history of mankind, can we change the subject?"

"Sure!" [Y/N] says, "What do you guys think about superheroes?"

The three teenagers freeze and Ned takes a glance at Peter who has tensed considerably. M.J, who normally has a pretty stoic look on her face, looks considerably worried about what's about to come.

"Personally, I think that they're dope! Like, Iron-man, may he rest in peace, was a totally cool dude. Sure he did some pretty shitty stuff in his past, but I personally think what he did while he was here was a pretty big redemption."

Peter closes his eyes and takes in a deep breath. He can't just blow up on some kid for asking the most universally asked question in New York and probably everywhere else. He needs to reign himself in.

"I think Spider-Man is cool." Peter says, and he can see M.J. roll her eyes harder than he's ever seen her do before.

[Y/N] nods frantically to agree with Peter, "Oh my God, me too! I mean, he's a total person for the people! Helping out the little guy _and_ doing the heavy lifting at the same time? Does that guy even get a day off! And his powers and super cool, too. How do they work, do you think? Like, do you think it has to do with his suit, or does he have genetically modified DNA like Captain America?"

[Y/N] spends the rest of the lunch period rambling on about superheroes and his theories and every superhero there is, and Peter finds that the more he mentions Tony, the less it hurts. Obviously it still hurts, it feels like a gaping wound, but maybe talking about him isn't so bad. This could help. This really could help.

Lunch ends, and Peter finds out that he and [Y/N] have chemistry together. That's good. He's been looking for a new lab partner recently.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for reading!!! I thrive on kudos and comments, so don't be scared to leave either :)


	2. "The name's Ender."

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Getting to know people is such a strange thing, isn't it?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> !!!T.W!!!
> 
> [Y/N] and Spider-Man are called to the scene of someone in the process of forcing someone else to make-out with them without consent! If you don't wish to read this, please skip when ### appears! ### will appear again when it is over! Love you all!

_"In other news, there were reports of another sighting of the mysterious masked vigilante at the Bank robbery last night. Or at least, another vigilante. Witnesses say that, although Spider-man did show up, the situation was practically handled when he did, much to his surprise._

_"Videos of this hero in blue have been posted on multiple different social media platforms. One of the most popular videos, and the one that made his presence known, is of him fighting off several armed robbers from the perspective of what appears to be a closet. The captions reads as follows;_

_'I honestly don't think that I could express my gratitude to this hero in blue through words. Nothing can describe the terror that you feel in the moments you think are going to be your last, and words will never be enough to explain the relief you feel when you realize that they aren't. I'm seven months pregnant with my first little girl and my husband is out at a business trip until tomorrow morning, so I had absolutely no way to defend myself, but thanks to that boy in blue I'm able to give birth to my daughter. I'm able to see my husbands face in the morning. I'm able to live another day. Thank you, and never stop fighting.'_

_"The video itself is hard to follow, but extremely entertaining. As you can see, our hero seems to appear and reappear in a blue mist when the attackers least expect it. Leaving them in a daze for long enough to get the upper hand. It's impressive, no doubt, but also sloppy._ _Once all the intruders are down, he turns to the closet and opens the door to give the woman recording a thumbs up before he's gone and the video ends."_

_"Despite their numerous differences, many people are debating whether this is a Spider-man wannabe, or simply another hero come to help our city of Queens. But two things we all want to know is where did he come from? And what is his name? Unfortunately that's all the time we have for today, but Good Morning New York! And stay safe out there."_

**_***_ **

[Y/N] stands near the schools entrance, tapping his foot, as he waits for his sister to show up. The two hadn't been sent to the same school, apparently [Y/N] was a little smarter than most kids his age, so they had decided to meet up at Midtown and get picked up by their dad there.

"Yo, [Y/N]!" [S/N]'s voice calls.

[Y/N] turns to his sister with a bright smile, "Howdy." he says as she stops in front of him.

"Ew, stop saying that." she hates it when he says Howdy, "Oh! Did you see the news? The boy in blue was seen _again_! Isn't that awesome!" [S/N] beams as she shows her younger brother, by like a week, the clip.

The clip is blurry and the action is barely distinguishable from the rest of the scene, but it gets it point across. That is _definitely_ the boy in blue.

"Rad." [Y/N] says with a curt nod, "You think he's really just some Spider-Man rip-off?"

[S/N] rolls her eyes, "No way, man. Just because someone with super powers fights crime doesn't mean they're a rip off of some other superhero. That'd be like saying two singers are rip offs of each other just cause they sing the same genre."

"Yeah, but people are still gonna say it, aren't they?"

She sighs, "Yeah. They are."

[Y/N] notices Peter talking to Ned about twenty yards away, a smiles, "Hey, that guy let me sit at his table with his friends during lunch today." he says, and [S/N] looks in the direction he's pointing.

"Which one?" she asks.

"Oh uh," he brings his arms up to cup his mouth as if to make a megaphone, "Hey, Peter! Ned!"

The two boys in question turn to the source of the sound before waving. Peter turns back to Ned, but Ned is already walking towards the siblings and Peter has no choice but to follow.

"Hey, [Y/N]." Ned says, "Did you change your mind about the Captain America training videos once you actually saw them?"

"Oh for sure, dude. They're a delicacy."

"No way," Peter cuts in, "they make me feel like I'm being forced into listening to Kidz Bop or something."

[Y/N] and Ned both cringe while [S/N] just shakes her head and holds out a hand to the two boys, "I'm [S/N]." They each introduce themselves to her with a short handshake, "Nice to know my little brother made some friends on the first day."

"You say that like I'm a total freak." [Y/N] protests.

"Cause you are a freak, you freak."

A car horn goes off causing all four teens to turn their attention to the curb. There's a man waving at them from his rolled down window.

"Oh, that's our dad." [Y/N] says, picking his backpack up from off the floor and slinging it over his shoulder, "I'll see you guys in Robotics tomorrow morning!" the two [L/N] siblings run up to the car, racing to see who can get to the front seat first. [S/N] wins, but only because she pulled [Y/N] back by his backpack just before he got to the car.

"So, how was your first day at smart people school?" Their dad asks as [Y/N] situates himself into the middle seat.

"Pretty good, I guess? I saw this kid get hit in the stomach during dodge ball and throw up all over the teachers shoes."

[S/N] gags as [D/N] laughs, "So it was moderate?"

"Yeah. Although the gym smelled like corn after he threw up"

His dad shakes his head in amusement, "Okay then. Make any friends?"

[Y/N] thinks for a second. Sure, [S/N] had called Ned and Peter his friends, but were they really? Sure he, Ned, and Peter all seemed to share a love for Star Wars, and M.J. had that sarcastic sense of humor that he loved, but they didn't really know much about each other as things were. They weren't 'a four person friend-group', they were 'a three person friend-group and [Y/N]'.

In the end, he settles with; "I'm getting there."

His dad doesn't push any farther on the subject, "What about you, [S/N]? How was your first day at your new school?"

"Oh my God, so my English teacher totally has this weird vendetta against me for like, _no reason_ , but he totally acts like he doesn't! I can see him glaring at me in class, but he said I was just imagining it! Like, what?" She launches into a long rant about her English teacher that both [Y/N] and their dad can't help but laugh at, and before they know it they've arrived at their apartment.

"Alright you little rascals, go do you homework." [D/N] says as the trio walks into the apartment. [Y/N] toes off his shoes as [S/N] throws her jacket onto the love seat.

"Yeah yeah, we're on it. Don't need to lecture us on the importance of school or whatever. Got enough of that in California." [S/N] says as their dad snickers and the two teenagers walk into their shared room to start their work.

[Y/N] was sat down on his bunk, and [S/N] decided that laying on the floor was the most comfortable place to be while she worked on her English. They each started tried their best to focus on homework, although the confused comments from [S/N] made it hard to. 

By the time they both managed to finish their work, it was the early hour of eleven p.m. Both teens were too tired to even _think_ about eating dinner, and just passed out in their beds in their school clothes.

They woke up with a start, only to find out that they were supposed to have woken up thirty minutes ago. There was a note on their door from their dad saying that he was at a job interview and wouldn't be back until the afternoon. That explains the lack of a wake-up call.

The two frantically ran around the apartment, barely being able to take their showers and stumbling out the front door in outfits that made it seem like they'd dressed themselves in a pitch black room.

They each said their hurried goodbyes to each other at the ground floor before running in the direction of their respective schools. In the end, [Y/N] was late by ten minute, and [S/N] by twenty because she had a breakdown halfway to her school and started sobbing on the sidewalk.

Needless to say it was an eventful morning.

[Y/N] entered first period and was met with a disappointed look from Mr. Larson. He explained what had happened, giving his absolutely horrendous outfit as proof, and sat down in his desk.

The second he sits down at lunch, Ned asks him to explain. Throwing off theories about what he thinks happened, and Peter has to explain to him that [Y/N] can't actually give him an answer if he doesn't stop talking.

"Ugh," he says, running a hand down him face, "My dad left for a job interview in the morning so he wasn't there to wake us up. We didn't even leave the house until seven thirty-five. I had to run here."

"So, basically," Peter says, holding a cafeteria french fry in his hand, "it was like that scene from Ferris Bueller's Day Off, except you were trying to _get_ to school."

[Y/N] nods a bit, "Yeah, actually! I totally almost got run over a few block past my street. And my sister, the entire time, she was just yapping on and on about the boy in blue. Cause _that_ was important at the time! Like dude! I get it, superheroes are cool, but I'm not trying to hear about how you read a Tumblr post that said someone would let the boy in blue raw them at seven in the morning while I'm try to put on a shirt."

The three teens across from him snicker. Ned is the first one to stop and actually comment on what [Y/N] said.

"I heard somewhere that he's gay. The boy in blue. Apparently he flirted with a guy around our age after saving him from getting hit by a car." He says, dipping a carrot in ranch and taking a bite.

"He could be bi. Don't go bi-erasing Ned," Peter says, shaking his head.

M.J rolls her eyes at the boy, "Yeah Ned, why you gotta be like that?"

"Bi-eraser is so last year, Ned." [Y/N] says.

"I'm just saying! It's possible he's gay. And also our age." Ned defends, putting his hands up in an 'I surrender' motion.

Peter shakes his head, "Do you guys think any other superheroes are gay? Or at least not het?" he asks.

"Black Widow gives off heavy lesbian vibes, but that might just be my wishful thinking." M.J. says, finally setting down her book.

[Y/N] nods, "Same. Personally though, I think Spider-Man is bi. I mean, have you seen footage of him interacting with any moderately attractive person?"

Ned hides his mouth behind his hand, but the shake of his shoulders make it obvious that he's laughing. M.J. doesn't even try to hide her humor in what [Y/N] just said, and Peter's face is flushed red.

"What?" The [H/C] haired boy asks, "What did I say wrong?"

"Nothing," M.J. says as she stops laughing, "You said everything just right."

Peter slaps Ned lightly on the arm and he sobers up from laughing, "Yeah. I have to agree. Spider-Man is totally bi."

[Y/N]'s brow furrows as he looks between the three before he shakes his head. "Alright then." he says, "What about you, Peter? What do you think?"

They all turn to look at the brunette, M.J. and Ned wear matching faux innocent grins and [Y/N] looks genuinely curious. He sighs, "Spider-Man is one-hundred percent bi."

"Sick! I see we're all in agreement." [Y/N] says, "I guess we should call him Bider-man or something."

"Boo!" MJ throws a fry at him. "Bad joke!"

The other two teenagers join in on the booing and throwing their french fries at him, "My talent is unappreciated in this society." [Y/N] says with a shake of his head, before picking up the fries and eating them.

**_***_ **

Of course. The third day [Y/N] transferred to Midtown he has a project. It wasn't too bad of a project, if he was being honest. It was just an essay on the importance of platonic relationships in your teen years and how they can help with depression blah blah blah, speak from your experience yada yada, emotions whatever. He had also gotten paired up with Peter, they shared a good amount of classes together, so that was another plus.

The two exchanged numbers during lunch so they could discuss the project further, and that was the end of their discussion on it for the most part.

"Did you hear that Flash got called out by Mrs. Emmerson for being a dick to Catie Worth in Bio earlier?" Ned asks.

[Y/N] shakes his head as Peter places his apple onto his tray, they had come to the agreement that [Y/N] could have his apple because Peter hated the ones the school provided and it was better than just wasting it.

"Yeah! Apparently she overheard him call her something derogatory or just degrading a totally when off on him. From what I heard it was kinda hard to watch. Not really cause he didn't deserve it but because she did not hold back."

Peter looks wistfully into the distance, "Oh, to see Eugene Flash Thompson get absolutely decimated by a High-school Biology teacher."

M.J. shakes her head in amusement, "That's the dream."

The rest of the day rolls by in a flash, and before [Y/N] knows it he's walking home. Apparently [D/N] was picking up groceries and wasn't gonna be there for a while. [S/N] was at play rehearsal, how she had managed to get on the tech team when she'd only been there for three days was beyond him, so [Y/N] didn't have much to do besides sit around and watch T.V when he got home.

He quickly feeds Merlin and gives him new water before he mumbles to himself, "Patrol time, I guess." He opens up a small compartment in his dresser that holds a shitty hand-made suit inside of it. It's honestly just some blue pajamas, under armor, and a hoodie with a mask sewed into it, but it was the best he could do with his limited resources.

He quickly blips out to a random rooftop. It's something he's always been able to do, the blipping, and he wasn't sure why. Apparently his birth mother had been near a radioactive waste dump while she was pregnant with him and that had caused some problem. Whatever it was that had caused it, he just knew it was rad.

He's never used it around his family. Ever since they adopted him he had kept it a secret from them, even though he knows that they likely wouldn't judge them. It's not exactly about the judgement though, it's his fear that they might get hurt.

He doesn't want anyone to know what he could do for the simple reason that it could put them in danger. And therefore he would be the cause of the thing he was attempting to keep from happening. Innocent lives being lost. He really _really_ did not want to be the reason someone lost their life.

[Y/N] finds himself overlooking some random street. Most of the time, the afternoon was pretty boring. Most crackheads are nocturnal, and therefore only decide to show their rat bastardness at night, which tends to makes day shifts pretty bland.

Suddenly, he hears someone land behind him. "You're either Spider-Man, or someone who can jump higher than a kangaroo by a long shot." [Y/N] says before turning around. Spider-Man is staring at him, his mechanical eyes narrowed, and [Y/N] can only assume that he's studying him.

"Well, I would hope that I'm Spider-Man." The boy in the red mask says.

[Y/N] chuckles a little bit, "So would I." he holds out a hand, "It's nice to meet you. The name's Ender."

"Ender?" Spider-Man asks, shaking his had, "As in Ender's Game?"

[Y/N] sighs, "As in... Ender-man."

Spider-Man stifles a laugh, "You're joking."

"Sadly, I am not.

Spider-Man breaks into a fit of laughter, clutching his stomach as he's huddled over, "That's fucking gold, oh my God!"

"Look, I came up with the name when I was like twelve, and when I decided to use my powers for crime fighting I couldn't think of anything better, okay!"

The spider-themed hero laughs through the explanation, and then for another minute, before he responds, "No! It's a good name! I just did not expect that."

"It's more creative than 'Spider-Man'."

"Hey!"

This time, [Y/N] is the one who starts laughing as Peter desperately tries to explain himself for picking such a generic name. The two argue back and forth over what is and what isn't a cool superhero name before [Y/N] is shushed by the red and blue vigilante.

"Sh!" he says, holding up a hand, "I hear something." they're both quiet for a few seconds before he speaks up again, "Alleyway three blocks down." he says, before swinging away. [Y/N] takes a few seconds to process what he just said before blipping to the scene.

**###**

They arrive and see a girl trying to feel the man up a little-ways into an alley.

The man spots the two of them and calls out again. "Please! Help! I broke up with her and." The girl cuts him off by covering his mouth and looking back at the two who are both now making their way over to her.

She turns back to her apparent ex, squinting her eyes at him, "I just don't get why you'd want to break up with me, Charlie. I'm a fucking steal!"

Spider-Man grabs her shoulder, but she smacks his hand away in an instant. He turns over to [Y/N], who nods, and suddenly Charlie is being blipped to the deli twenty minutes away.

The girl looks around frantically for her ex as Spider-Man webs her to the side of the wall. [Y/N] blips back just as Spider-Man webs her mouth to keep her from speaking, and the two leave a note that says, _'Dear whomever it may concern, this lady was caught sexually assaulting her ex-boyfriend in this very alleyway. We stopped her, obviously, but it's be best to put her in jail. You'e welcome! :) Your friendly neighborhood Spider-Man and Ender'_

[Y/N] had insisted on signing his name himself, just to get the full experience.

**###**

"Do you wanna go check on that Charlie guy?" [Y/N] asks.

Spidey thinks about it for a few seconds, "We probably should, huh? Where'd you leave him anyways?"

"That corner deli a few blocks away."

"You mean the best sandwiches in all of Queens?"

"I wouldn't know, I've never been there."

Spidey recoils at that, "Okay what? Now we _have_ to go."

[Y/N] shakes his head, but touches Spidey's shoulder and blips the to the deli anyways. He spots Charlie at one of the tables and motions to him with his head.

"Hey man," Spidey says, "You okay?"

"I'm, definitely not great?" He says, shaking his head, "Thank you, though. Really, I don't know how I could ever repay you."

They both shake their heads, "No need, dude. It's all part of the job." [Y/N] says with a smile.

Charlie nods, "Right. Well I better put in an incident report at the station. Thanks so much for your help, again. Have a good day!" he walks out of the store, both of the superheros waving at him.

"He seemed cool." [Y/N] comments.

"Girl definitely didn't."

"I saw a B on her purse. What do you think it meant?"

"I don't know. Bailey? No offense to the cool Baileys of the world."

"Could be. Hey, didn't you seem like totally shaken that I'd never had one of these sandwiches earlier?"

Spidey seems to snap out of his daze and walks up to the counter, speaking with the shop keep as if they're old friends. [Y/N] wouldn't be surprised if they were. The sandwiches are done pretty quickly, and once they're done paying [Y/N] blips them back to that same rooftop.

He unwraps his sandwich and is about to take a bite before he realizes that Spidey is staring at him. "Dude, what the hell are you doing?"

"Sorry! I just want to see you experience this for the first time." he says, and [Y/N] raises a brow.

"It's literally just a sandwich."

"Oh no, my friend," he shakes his head, "it is so much more."

[Y/N] snorts, "Whatever you say, man." he takes a bite, Spidey still watching him intently, and pauses. Okay, that's is actually really good. Like, _really_ good. He takes at least three more bites in rapid succession and he can hear Spidey snicker a bit before unwrapping his own sandwich.

"Dude," [Y/N] says after swallowing a mouthful of sandwich, "I am never doubting your food recommendations ever again. This is literally the best thing I have ever tasted in my life."

"Told you." Spidey says smugly.

[Y/N] just laughs, "You're the worst."

_******* _

"Okay, truth or dare?" Peter asks [Y/N] as he laid down on the floor, staring at the ceiling.

The boys had agreed to work on the project on Saturday on the basis of them both being 'busy'. It worked out well for them, but Saturday had arrived much quicker than either of them thought it would, and boy were they procrastinating. The most work they had done so far was type out their thesis.

[Y/N] is silent for a moment before answering. "Truth, I guess?"

"How are you and [S/N] siblings when you were born a week apart?"

"I was adopted. I guess you could say it was a birthday present, cause I was literally adopted on my birthday." [Y/N] chuckled a bit at the memory.

He remembers that day like it was yesterday. In the middle of lunch he had gotten called to the front room by one of the workers. There stood a younger [D/N] and an eight year old [S/N], both smiling extremely wide. [Y/N] had no idea what was going on, but he smiled and introduced himself in such an innocent way. He had forgotten that they had just met a week ago for an interview. His dad had given him a smile, and hugged him tight. It wasn't until the [L/N]'s had gotten halfway to their house that [Y/N] realized he had just been adopted. When he came to that realization, he started crying.

He had been in that orphanage since before he could walk, and he knew kids that were there longer than he was that hadn't been adopted yet. He was too happy to process the information and just spent the first few weeks doing nothing but hug his newfound family, and smile.

Nearly ten years of a family full of total nerds. What a wild ride.

"Oh. I don't know how I didn't guess that." Peter laughs to himself.

[Y/N] shrugged. "I don't know either. We don't look alike at all."

"Give me some credit here. You have the same eyes."

"I don't know man. You lose all credit when the fact that she is a completely different ethnicity as me."

"This is bullying." Peter says as he stands up to leave the room. "I will not stand for this."

[Y/N] shakes his head. "Then sit down." He hops off his bed, and makes his way over to his desk. "Really though, we need to start this project. It's due on Tuesday."

Peter groans, walking over to the desk and taking a seat next to [Y/N] on the extra swivel chair. [Y/N] just rolls his eyes.

"Mr. Torrence said we have to have six pages each, as well as another two pages explaining how our experience helped with depression or anxiety or whatever. So, it should be easy to either, a, fake it. Or, b, genuinely talk about how sad we are." [Y/N] suggests both options, just in case Peter os sensitive to talking about his mental health in front of someone he barely knows.

"Yeah. Do you wanna go first? I have no problem going after you."

[Y/N] shrugs, and just starts typing. His fingers are as fast as lightning. When it came to depression, he had no shortage of experience. I mean, who did?

He goes on and on about how he struggled with moving so much for his dad's job. Leaving behind the friends he worked so hard to get, and how it made him distant from attempting to make friends for a while. Not to mention some greasy white boy made fun of him for being gay in middle school, so that definitely didn't help.

But he made sure to add in when he found his best friend, Meena, at summer camp. It was like a blessing. She accepted him for everything he was, and he did the same with her. They helped each other, and held each other when they needed it.

They were inseparable, and she helped him out of his shell for the first time in years. Needless to say, Meena was family now. And he credited her for making him the person he was now.

He finishes off his portion of the essay with this;

_'I don't know where I would be without the people who love me most. But I know it's likely I wouldn't be here at all. When it comes to the mental state I had back then, lets just say it was far from ideal. I can't help but be grateful to all of those who helped me out of my rut, and I love them.'_

He passes the laptop over to Peter, and lets him work. Other than the sound of Peter typing, the room was pretty silent. There were some times where Peter would pause in his typing, or one of them would cough, and even once someone downstairs broke what sounded like a mountain of plates, but it was mostly just the clacking of the keys. [Y/N] spaces out after about thirty minutes of listening to his surroundings, and just let his mind wander.

He thinks about a lot of things. From the inevitability of death, to what it would be like if he was forced to walk like a crab for a day. That image was kind of funny. He's so lost in thought that he doesn't even notice when Peter closes the laptop. It takes Peter waving a hand in front of [Y/N]'s face to snap him out of his trance.

"Sorry. Guess I zoned out." [Y/N] laughs, rubbing the back of his neck. Peter just gives him a half smile.

"It's fine dude. But, we finished like, really early. And my Aunt doesn't even get off work for the next three hours. So I'm kind of locked out of the apartment." Peter sighs, sitting down on [Y/N]'s bed and leaning up against the wall.

"Okay, one, how do you not have a key to your own apartment? And, two, you live with your Aunt? What's up with that?" [Y/N] raises an eyebrow, making sure to keep a distance from himself and Peter. No awkward touches today. No sir. "I mean, no judgement, I literally used to be an orphan, just curious."

Peter gives [Y/N] a quick side glance. "It's kind of a sensitive subject." He laughs, fiddling with the end of his sleeve.

"I get it if you don't feel comfortable telling me. You are in no way obligated to tell me." [Y/N] reassures him. He doesn't want to seem pushy. They aren't even really friends yet. Or, are they? [Y/N] doesn't know.

Peter looks over at him, "Thanks. I'm glad my angsty main character backstory isn't being forced out of me for once."

[Y/N] laughs, "Did you just call your past your 'angsty main character backstory'?"

Peter's face switches from shy and guarded to serious in a matter of seconds, "And so what if I did?"

[Y/N] laughs even harder at this, and Peter can't help but to join in.

"Dude, I don't think I have _ever_ heard someone do that before. How are you the only person I know who does that?"

"Easy. I'm not lame and everyone else is."

"Debatable, really." [Y/N] says, causing Peter to let out a gasp and pretend to be offended.

"[Y/N]! How could you! I trusted you!" He says, bringing a hand to his forehead and turning away for dramatic effect.

"Fool. Have you not learned from history to trust no one? Not even your closest of friends? No one is truly a friend. All people are snakes." [Y/N] uses a terrible English accent from the thirteen hundreds as he speaks.

"Who are you? The rat that started the Black Plague?" Peter asks, most likely due to the accent.

"No I'm a snake, duh."

"How was that obvious?"

"I said snake, stupid."

"This is bi-phobic."

[Y/N] is about to go for another snarky remark, but he stops. "Wait, you're bi?"

Peter raises an eyebrow in question. "Could you not tell that from the everything about me?"

[Y/N] just shrugs. "I didn't want to assume. But you do hold very _strong_ twink energy."

Peter punches him lightly in the arm. "I am incredibly manly, thank you."

"Dude, you look and sound like you just went into seventh grade."

"I am a _man_!" Peter defends, puffing out his chest to prove his point.

[Y/N] simply laughs at this. "My apologies Sir Man Mannington the Fourth."

Peter seems to be even more pissed at the comment, and throws a pillow at [Y/N].

[Y/N] scoffs, grabbing a pillow. "You don't know what you just started, Parker."

Soon, there was a war going on in the bedroom. [Y/N] had made a fort on one side, and Peter the other. Pillows were flying, and whenever one got hit they would either pretend to have gotten shot, or throw it back with ten times the strength.

[Y/N] manages to land a few dozen good hits on Peter, but Peter seems to have the accuracy of a trained sniper. It's absolutely ridiculous.

The war only ends in a truce because [Y/N] nearly broke his lamp after a pretty hard throw, and they weren't trying to re-create the Kevin watch the light vine. Of course they cleaned up the mess they'd made, because if they didn't someone was going to slip on something and break a hip, but it didn't take too long.

Afterwards they sort of just lay down on the floor and talk about anything that comes to mind as they calmed down from all the adrenaline in their veins.

"Do you ever wonder what it would be like to be a goldfish?" Peter asks. [Y/N] lifts himself onto his shoulders to give Peter a look.

"What? Why would I ever think about that?" He asks, "Why do _you_ even think about that?"

"I don't!" Peter retaliates, "I was just wondering if you did!"

[Y/N] rolls his eyes before laying back down, "Sure. And nine year old me was 'just wondering' when I asked my dad if he had ever broken a kids arm on accident while playing tag."

"That is arguably so much worse than wondering what if would be like to be a goldfish."

"Agree to disagree."

[Y/N] rolls his eyes before rolling over onto his stomach and just looking at the brunette. He's never really taken the time to just look at him before. He has to admit, Peter is pretty cute. Maybe it's the boyish charm, or the energetic attitude, or even just the way he talks, [Y/N] can't deny that Peter is attractive.

Peter raises a brow when he realizes that [Y/N] is staring, "What?"

"Nothing," [Y/N] says, a fond smile crossing his features, "just looking at you."

Peter hold eye contact with him for a few seconds before he flushed and has to look away. That was... weird. Not the whole looking at each other thing, they do that all the time, but the silently just staring at one another. Peter isn't complaining, and he isn't against it happening again, but it was weird.

He turns back to [Y/N] when he thinks his face is back to it's usual shade and finds that he's moved a bit closer, his eyes searching every inch of Peter's face. Well, there goes all the time he took to take away his flush. "Uhm," Peter clears his throat. "hi?"

[Y/N] looks up from the barely visible freckles dotting Peter's cheeks to his eyes, "Hi." he says.

"What are you," he clears his throat again, "what are you doing?" his eyes are frantically looking at [Y/N]'s face. From his nose, to his eyes, to his cheeks, to his lips, and back up to his eyes.

[Y/N] opens his mouth to answer before closing it again. They sit in silence like that for a while. "You have freckles. I didn't notice that before."

Not a lot of people took notice of Peter's freckles. To be honest, Peter hadn't noticed them until he looked really hard in the mirror. [Y/N] trying to examine Peter's freckles explains the close proximity between them, but it didn't explain why it was making Peter so flustered.

[Y/N]'s eyes glance down at Peter's lips for a split second before going back up to his eyes, and Peter does the same thing. Suddenly [Y/N] clears his throat and pulls back. "It's uh, really cool that you have freckles."

"Yeah."

They both sit in silence for a while, faces redder than tomatoes, before either of them speaks again and the odd tension in the room dissipates. Before either of the boys know it, Peter is being called by his aunt asking why he isn't home yet. Apparently, he's stayed for almost two hours longer than he was supposed to. He quickly gathers his things, nearly forgetting to put on his shoes on his way out the door. They say their goodbyes, and no more than ten minutes after Peter leaves is [Y/N] out on patrol.

[Y/N] can't help but find it slightly ironic that he manages to keep a steady schedule of patrol, but can't even be bothered to clean his room more than once every month. Although, in the grand scheme of things, cleaning your room isn't as important as saving the people. But he was sure any mother would disagree with him wholeheartedly. Then again, he'd never actually had a mother.

He sits at the edge of a roof for a while. The city bustles below, filling the air with noise. It's a drastic difference than the almost complete silence he got in California, but it's not exactly bad. Other than the usual noises of the city, it's a quiet night. That confuses him because Saturday's tend to be pretty busy.

"What'cha doing on this roof all by yourself?" A familiar voice says to him.

"Oh you know, waiting for someone to try and destroy me. The usual." [Y/N] says in response without even turning around.

"So I'm guessing you also noticed tonight is unusually slow, huh?" Spidey says as he sits down next to [Y/N]. He has a churro.

"Yeah. It's kind of unnerving, really. No idea why. Guess the fact that no one is trying to murder half the world is scarier than it actually happening. In some way."

Spidey chuckles at this. "As if. You didn't have to fight the purple raisin bastard trying to do it. Terrifying, really. But, I get what you mean."

[Y/N] finally turns to look at him, taking notice of his churro, "Aw, no fair! Where did you get a churro from?"

"This nice old lady with a stand gave it to me on my way here."

"Boo! Favoritism!"

Spidey's mechanical eyes roll, but he takes the churro out of the paper cover and hands the other half to [Y/N] who gladly.

"Thanks."

"No problem."

They sit and eat their churros for a while, and then just watch the city. [Y/N] can't help but admire the lights in the distance. He's gotta admit, it's one hell of a view.

He sighs, "I miss the crackheads. Where did they go?"

As if on cue, a loud explosion goes off in the distance, gaining the two heroes attention.

"I'm gonna take a wild guess and say that way."


	3. "Why did you want to be a hero?"

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Nothing stays perfect forever, don't you know?

The beat of the song 'Stayin Alive' rings through [Y/N]'s head. He's even humming it to himself to both aid himself, and to help calm himself down.

"Ah, ah, ah, ah. Stayin alive. Stayin alive." He mumbles to himself, his voice shaky and filled with worry.

[Y/N] pulls Spidey's mask up to his nose, just so his mouth was visible, and gave two rescue breaths before continuing to push down on his chest with his hands.

"Wake up you absolute idiot!" [Y/N] yells as he pushes down again, he's beginning to lose hope that he can save the hero he had admired for so long, the hero that made him want to start his career as a masked vigilante. He wouldn't be able to live with himself if he couldn't save him. He just wouldn't.

**_Like Thirty Minutes Ago_ **

"Okay, I'll sneak up on them from the back, you fall in from above." Spidey explains when they're about thirty yards from the suspected cause of the explosion. It's a group of ten, maybe twenty, men. They had been messing with explosions and apparently one was bigger than they thought it would be.

"Why do I fall from the ceiling? You're literally Spider-Man, shouldn't you fall from the ceiling?"

"They'd suspect that! Just, please go with it."

"Alright. But if something goes wrong it's totally your fault."

The plan really isn't one they should go through with. It's hastily put together and leaves over a dozen vulnerable areas for both of them, but when has a plan Peter's made in a split second decision ever been good?

Spidey and [Y/N] begin to execute their plan. Of course when [Y/N] blip to be in mid air, he had let out a loud 'Bad idea!', as he fell. Turns out it is a lot harder to stay silent when you're falling than you would think. The group's attention is turned to him, which gives Spidey the chance to sneak up behind some of them and land a few pretty good hits.

[Y/N] blips to be in front of one of the guys just before he hits the ground. The guy obviously hadn't expected him, if the shocked expression is anything to go by, and he uses that to his advantage. He kicks him in the stomach, then blips to be in a different place to push him onto the ground and make a final blow by jumping on his side.

Spidey had already webbed up at least three quarters of the guys, and [Y/n] seems occupied trying to make sure he gets all of the explosives to the proper authorities if the slowly shrinking supply is anything to go by.

As he looks around the place for any more of the explosives, one of the Peter had yet to web to a wall pulls out a firearm and pulls the trigger.

[Y/N] is going to just blip away, cause he can do that, but apparently Spidey has different plans. Being the oh-so-stupid hero he is, Spidey moves himself in front of [Y/N] to keep him from getting shot. As the shot enters his leg and leaves through the other side again, he falls to the floor in pain.

[Y/N] takes the temporary confusion to knock the guy out, and uses the weird web shooter thing on his partners(?), forearm to make sure he wouldn't be going anywhere.

Once that's done, [Y/N] runs back over to Spidey in a panic. "Holy shit. Oh my fucking God! What the fuck do I do!"

Spidey raises his head slightly. "I get you're worried, but can you not cuss while I bleed out?" he asked, trying to lighten the mood.

[Y/N] just points the web shooter at the wound, and covers it up until he sees the blood stop flowing before doing the same on the other side of the leg. But, by the looks of it, Spidey had already passed out.

In a panic, the blue themed boy feels around for a pulse, and, when he couldn't find one, nearly starts crying.

He pulls his partners(?) mask up to his nose, and starts CPR.

**_Back To The Future_ **

[Y/N] punches Spidey's arm over and over again once they're both sure he's completely stable and not about to die.

"Idiot! Dumbass! Fucking stupid! I was going to blip away, you shouldn't have done that!" [Y/N] is both pissed, and relieved. However, he's currently more pissed than he is relieved.

Spidey catches [Y/N]'s next punch before speaking. "I'm sorry! I just saw it about to happen and it was all instinct from then on. Just, look on the bright-side! We're both alive. The guys got arrested. Turns out they were wanted criminals."

"But now I'm traumatized and it's like, eighty percent your fault."

"What do I have to do for you to forgive me!"

There's silence for a minute. [Y/N] is obviously in deep thought, thinking of what he could ask for.

"I don't know, kiss me or something." He jokes. Spidey seems to tense at this, but does start to lean in. [Y/N] holds up his hands and pushes the other hero away slightly, "Woah! Okay, I was joking! Just, get me some ice cream. Loser."

[Y/N] can't really tell, but he thinks that Spidey is blushing under that mask of his. He's pretty much positive, actually.

"Come on. I know a really good place we can go to." [Y/N]'s new partner says, standing up and holding a hand out for the boy in blue.

"Alright. Let's go."

**_Later, On A Random Rooftop_ **

"Wait. So you got bit by a spider?" [Y/N] asks before licking his ice cream cone.

Spidey nods, stirring his way too think milkshake around before putting some of it on a spoon and taking a bite. "It hurt like a bitch. And like, I almost ate fly."

"Really? In front of my ice cream?" [Y/N] motions to said ice cream in his hand.

"Shut up." Spidey gives [Y/N]'s arm a light punch as the other boy laughs. "How'd you get your powers?"

"I honestly don't know. I _think_ it was radiation? I just know I've had them since like, forever. Never really got to ask anyone. I'm sort of self taught? And by that I mean I had to teach myself so I wouldn't be whisked away."

"Damn. Having superpowers sucks ass. Like, it's cool. But at the same time I just want to be normal. People would kill to be able to do what we do. And, at one point neither of us even wanted to do what we can do."

[Y/N] chuckles lightly. "He who wins the prize grows tired of it, I suppose."

"He who is given great ability does not wish for accountability." Spidey say, taking another spoonful of his milkshake.

"A.K.A. I didn't want to be a superhero. I just chose to be."

"When you can do what we can do, but you don't, and _then_ the bad things happen. It's on you."

[Y/N] sighs, "Why is it that whenever someone gets a power that most people don't have, it just clicks that they need to be a hero. And, what if there's people that do have cool powers but just choose not to use them so they don't have to hold the burden of saving their town, or city every time they need to?

"Can you call them selfish? For wanting to live a normal life? For not wanting to force upon themselves a responsibility they don't need to have? Is it fair to call them selfish? I mean, who says that just because you do have a special power you _need_ to be a superhero? No one, right? So why do we just assume we have to be?

"Why is it the responsibility of one person in one town to protect the entire city from harm. Imagine doing that to someone who isn't like us. Who doesn't have our advantages. It'd be terrible.

"I don't even know what I'm going on about at this point. I'm rambling. Just ignore me." [Y/N] laughs as he finishes his tangent.

Spidey is silent for a few seconds, supposedly processing all of the information just thrown at him, before speaking. "No, I think I get what you mean. Why do we _have_ to be a hero just because we can do things others can't. And I think it's different for everyone? Why theu\y want to be a hero."

"Why did you want to be a hero?" [Y/N] asks, finally finishing his ice cream.

Spidey rubs the back of his neck, "At first it was sort of a personal motive. Scratch that, it was totally personal, but the more I got into it the more it clicked that helping others is just the right thing to do. I didn't really care if it put a lot of responsibility on me, I just didn't want anyone else to go through what I went through.

"A lot of people needed someone to protect them. And, I wished someone would have been there to protect the person I lost when they needed it most. And I want the people of Queens to feel safe in their homes, or when they're out and about at night.

"And I think that's the hardest part of this job. Wanting to save everyone, and then having to find out the hard way that not everyone can be saved. And sometimes, that's a fact you wish you didn't have to learn.

"What about you?" he turns to [Y/N] Why _did_ the boy in blue want to be a hero?"

[Y/N] shrugs. "I honestly don't know. I mean, I guess I just wanted to feel like I had a purpose? That I wasn't just here to be here. I wanted to do something myself. Felt useless for a little while.

"But I don't really think of being a hero as being useful. Someone to come in and help and just be cast aside when they don't need me anymore.

"I think of it more as being there for people. And, I can't be there for everyone for everything, but in their hour of need, I like to think I would be able to be there. Make sure they make it another day.

"Being a hero isn't just a job, it's a lifestyle. And you don't have to be in a suit to be a hero. You don't even have to have a special ability. You just need to help people for the sake of helping people."

"That person who helps others simply because it should or must be done, and because it is the right thing to do, is indeed, without a doubt, a real superhero." Spidey smiles to himself, before stretching.

"God, when did this conversation become philosophical and depressing? I didn't think we had it in us to be so serious." He says, stirring his milkshake again.

[Y/N] shrugs again with a laugh. "People surprise themselves every day."

"Yeah. I guess you're right. For example, today I surprised myself by taking a bullet for someone who could've gotten away from the bullet easily."

"And today I surprised myself by letting someone else convince me to take a fifty foot drop when they could have done it themselves and not be scared as hell."

"Look! The plan worked! Alright!" Peter says.

"Yeah, and nearly got you killed!" [Y/N] shoots back

"But it didn't!"

"That's fair and all, but I'm still mad at you! Even if I couldn't have gotten away as easily as I can, you shouldn't have taken the bullet for me."

"Oh come on, Ender. Don't be like that. And besides! I have super healing! I'm the only one of use that should be taking bullets!"

"Neither of us should be taking bullets, you weirdo!"

"Yeah, but if one of us has to it should probably be the guy with super healing, right?"

"Super healing or not, it'll still cause some negative effects in the long run!"

"Come on, man, you know I'm right. Just admit it. Say 'Spidey, you are one-hundred percent right and I am so sorry for ever doubting you'."

"Spidey, you are a total idiot and I don't know how you've survived this long."

"I may not be Einstein, but I am pretty damn sure that is not what I said."

"Well obviously you aren't Einstein considering how shitty your plan was."

"It was a great plan!"

The two argue back and forth about the plan for nearly half an hour before Spidey finally gives up and realizes that [Y/N] is never going to let him live down taking the bullet and will always be mad at him for it. They start talking about who could survive a bullet wound longer before the conversations shifts once again.

"Being alone is simultaneously the best and the worst. Cause, on the one hand, I crave physical affection and attention. And on the other, I hate being around people." [Y/N] explains, doing various hand gestures that are a little too over the top for what he's saying.

"Honestly? I just really want to be able to be in a relationship without the hassle of trying to explain why I sneak out late every night and have mysterious bruises everywhere whenever I come back. Cause, that just _screams_ that I'm a cheater, but in reality I just stopped a gang war from starting at the expense of being beat up."

"That's either something you just thought of, or actually happened."

"February before I dusted. It was not a fun time."

"Doesn't sound like it. But, I get what you mean. I don't want to come home at four in the morning to my boyfriend sitting on a swivel chair asking where I've been and why I'm dressed like a stripper."

"In what world does your costume look like a stripper outfit?"

"I'm working on one that doesn't look like pajamas, loser." [Y/N] laughs, crossing his arms.

"Alright then. New question. Why will your _new_ costume look like a stripper outfit?"

"Are you telling me that if your significant other was sneaking into the house dressed in spandex and a mask, you wouldn't assume they were a stripper."

"Alright, Touché." He puts a hand on the back of his neck when he gets an idea, "Hey, wait a minute! Why don't you and I make a new suit together?"

[Y/N] raises an eyebrow, "How?"

"You can come to Stark Industries tomorrow and we can make a suit together in my lab! It'll be a lot easier than making one from scratch without tech." he explains, "I can add Karen to your suit, too, so I don't have to tell you everything she's telling me!"

"Alright, I'll come over tomorrow then. Also, who's Karen?"

"Oh, she's my personal A.I."

"So she's constantly in your ear, and you decided to name her Karen? Why do I feel like there's a correlation here?"

They laugh, sitting in silence for a little bit. In some way they were thankful for such a quiet night. Being able to just hang out. Well, they can't really talk about certain things or else that would give hints to their real identities, but they're hanging out nonetheless.

The sound of cars in the distance and lights scattered here and there, some music blasting somewhere in the suburbs. It's almost peaceful. _Almost_. Both boys still have their guard up. They can't really let their guard down. The sad truth of their lifestyles is that, no matter how safe the world becomes, they could never fully relax again.

But at least they could still sit and enjoy a view with another person. It's something they could do while waiting for something to happen. Anything to happen. It was the one thing they could do together without feeling like they'd just stopped doing their jobs. Technically, from where they are, they're still watching the city.

"Do you think it's inevitable that people will forget us? Like, do we really deserve a spot in the history books? Just for being able to do what we do?" Spidey asks out of nowhere.

"If people want to remember us, they will. But let's not think about that right now. It'll make me cry."

Spidey laughs, but does change the subject to something a little less heavy. "Got a crush on anyone?"

[Y/N] laughs at this. "I do not. Don't know anyone well enough to have a crush on them. What about you? Does Spider-Man have a crush?"

"My heart does not belong to anyone. Nor do I wish to give it away at the moment."

"Cool. We're both equally lame."

"Not lame, just closed off and sad."

[Y/N] laughs. "I feel that. Although I'm lacking in relationships in general if I'm being honest."

Spidey shrugs. "The downside of being a hero for some people, I guess. I was either lucky or unlucky enough to have my best friend find out about me being a superhero."

"Damn. I guess you hit a jackpot. Someone to actually talk to about hero stuff. _And_ you're admired by the public. Incredible."

"I'm really just some guy that goes zoom on sticky string that wears spandex."

"That is the worst way I've ever heard you described please never say that sentence again, thank you."

"You're just mad because I'm right."

"I'm mad because you're accurate."

"Spandex is really uncomfortable though. Like, it sucks ass. And not in the good way."

"Fucking, _pardon_? In what goddamn way do you eat ass in _the good way_?"

"I don't know, man! I just thought it, and then I said it!"

"Can we agree to never say anything like it ever again."

"We sure as hell can."

_******* _

Peter is absolutely exhausted on Sunday. Ender was right, there are definitely long term effects. It's practically been a day and he can still feel the pain in his leg. What had that bullet been made out of? Titanium coated in poison?

He stretches before checking his phone. He doesn't have anything to do today so he might head over to the compound. He hasn't done that in a while. Not just because it kinda got destroyed, but because it hurts to be there. Too many reminders of Tony.

Wait. He's supposed to make a suit with Ender at S.I. today. He had almost forgotten. He hadn't been thinking when he suggested it, he just did in a desperate attempt to spend some more time with the pajama wearing superhero.

Now that he thinks about it, though, Stark industries might not be so hard to go to. Sure, it's still got reminders of Tony, but it's less than the compound is bound to. Yeah. He can deal with being at S.I. today. Plus he'll have Ender with him for a distraction, so it might not be as bad.

Honestly, how they'd gone this long without making Ender a new suit, Peter doesn't know. Going out an fighting crime in pajamas is really impractical and if the blue wearing boy had ever gotten seriously hit the pajamas wouldn't have done much to stop it.

He quickly gets dressed, staring at himself in the mirror for a little bit. He takes in a deep breath. He can do this. He's got this.

He walks out into the living room, "May," he says, she gives a hum of acknowledgment but doesn't look up from the pot of Mac and Cheese she's making, "I think I'm gonna visit S.I. today."

She stops, finally looking up at him. "Are you sure, Peter? I don't want you to push yourself to do something you aren't ready for."

He nods, taking in a deep breath, "Yeah. I'm sure."

She rushes over to him and pulls him into a bone crushing hug, "I'm so proud of you." she says, giving him a kiss on the top of his head. "Don't push yourself too far, though. Moving on is great, but forcing yourself to do something can take you right back to step one."

"Alright, May. I'll remember that. Love you."

"I love you, too." he gives her one last hug before heading out of the apartment and making his way to S.I., a coil of anxiety in his stomach. The entire walk there he feels like he watching himself from the outside. Like he's watching himself duck through the crowd, and take the subway, and say sorry for running into people from some third person perspective. And then he's standing in front of S.I and he feels himself get forcefully put back into his body.

He's here. Staring at this tall building that's reflecting the sun on it's windows, just standing there. In the middle of the sidewalk. People are giving him strange looks, but he doesn't care about that right now. All he cares about is that he's even in front of this building.

His feet seem to move on their own, carrying him to the front door, and when he opens it and takes his first step inside for almost five months ( _five years and five months_ , his brain corrects) nothing happens. There's no alarms that go off, security doesn't escort him out, he doesn't die instantly or anything else he expected. Absolutely nothing happens.

He lets out a defeated sigh. All this worrying over coming her for nothing.

He walks over to the elevator, getting some confused looks from people he doesn't recognize and enthusiastic 'hello's' from the people he does. It looks the same as it always did. He isn't sure what he was expecting, but he's glad that it all looks so familiar.

The elevator ' _dings_ ' signalling that he's on the lab floor, and Peter quickly changes out of his civilian clothes and into the suit he had on underneath. He doesn't know when Ender will show up, it's barely eight after all, but he can't be too safe.

They never actually got any concrete way of communicating with one another, which can be a really big problem now that he thinks about it. They'll have to sort that out today.

He sits in his chair, pulling up the screen and begins working on some first draft designs for Ender's suit. Obviously the color scheme would be mostly deep blues and blacks, but he isn't sure what exactly it would look like. Would it have an entire face covering mask, or the current hood mask combo that the other hero sports now? He draws up a sketch for both possibilities, and decides that the hood-mask combo definitely fits the witty heroes personality better.

Karen's voice is what breaks him out of picking a color palette. "Ender is in the lobby asking to be brought down to your lab. Security are trying to get rid of him, do you want me to give them the memo?"

Peter chuckles a bit under his breath. "Please? Oh, and can you play my suit making playlist?"

"On it." the A.I's voice is replaced with the opening notes of _Funny You Should Ask_ by The Front Bottoms and Peter goes back to perfecting the palette for Ender's suit, humming along to the song.

The elevator dings, but Peter doesn't even bother looking up, not even when he hears the weight of one of the chairs beside him shift. "I figured you would've just blipped in here." he says, and he can tell that the other boy is rolling his eyes without even looking at him.

"Yeah, well I thought that the alarms would go off if I did that." he says, standing up and looking over Peter's shoulder to see what he's doing, "Plus, it's rude to come into a room without warning."

Peter shakes his head, "And that's stopped you before?"

"Psh, whatever dude. What are you working on right now?"

"Oh, I'm picking out your suits color scheme. I figured you'd want to keep the blue?"

Ender sits on the desk top, and although Peter raises a brow he doesn't say anything. "For sure. But I think we should go with this shade for the sleeves because it clashes less with the black of the torso but it's still distinct enough to not be the same color." he takes the color picker and switches the color, tapping the sleeves to show the difference. He's right, it looks a lot better.

"Thanks, I was really struggling with that. No idea why." he bring his hand to his chin, closed in a fist, and starts thinking, "We need to design a logo for you, but that can be last. Your mask-hood combo is missing something, but I'm not sure what, and I'm thinking of giving you a utility belt for close up combat and smaller long range objects."

Ender hums, "May I request a sniper rifle that folds into something smaller and inconspicuous if it's possible? My dad used to take me to the gun range before we moved to the bigger cities, and I was pretty good with it if I do say so myself."

"Uhm, I can probably do that? It might take a while, though, so sorry for the wait on it in advance."

"Oh, it's cool. Also, I think the reason that the mask looks so weird is because it's attached to the body with nothing else. Here," he picks up one of the small pens on the table used for drawing in the program and makes a few short swooshes connected to the back hood. He tilts his head to the right a bit before erasing the hoods connection to the suit entirely and adding a small clip to the front. "There."

Peter takes a good look at it. It's not longer just a hood-mask combo, but instead a _cloak_ -mask combo. He's tempted to make a comment about capes and how they're dangerous because he's seen The Incredible's goddamnit, but the cape of the cloak barely reaches the suits lower back. It's hardly a hazard at all.

Peter barely registers that Ender is still adding details to the suit until the other boy politely asks if he can move to the left a little so he can get a better angle for what he's drawing. He watches intently as Ender adds things to his suits design that look akin to a mage's outfit.

He replaces the sleeves with blue elbow length leather gloves, and the shirt sleeves that remain are loose, stopping just before the gloves start. The shirt itself is now tucked into a pair of knee length shorts that Peter thinks are a little impractical for battle until he sees them coupled with the boots to match the gloves and a pair of protective knee pads that are barely noticeable if you aren't looking for them.

He quickly begins filling in the colors. The shirt is almost entirely black except for the blue triangles surrounding the entirety of the sleeves, as well as the blue triangles on his sides. The shorts are a solid black color with small blue accents as well, but the two pieces of clothing are easily distinguishable because of the icy off white utility belt. The cloak-mask combo has also been changed from blue to the same white of the belt.

All in all, it looks cool as fuck.

Ender takes a step back and crosses his arms, admiring his work. He turns to Peter, "What do you think?"

Peter snaps out of his admiring, "Dude, it looks fucking sick! People are gonna think they're getting bested by a wizard or something!" he leans in, adding in the tech for Karen to in the cloak, and the leans back again. "Here's an earpiece so that you can hear Karen in your ear, too."

Ender just laughs, before he seems to remember something, "Thanks. Oh yeah! I found something out the other week that I've been meaning to show you. Come on!" Peter quickly saves the suit file before following Ender into the area that Peter practices new abilities in his arsenal. "Okay, stand here." he says, grabbing Peter by the shoulders and positioning him before walking about fifty feet away.

"You ready!" he yells, and Peter gives him a thumbs up. He watches as Ender picks up a chair with a furrowed brow. He watches as nothing happens for a few seconds before in a split the chair disappears and his Spidey-senses are going off. He brings his hands up above his head and catches the chair just before it hits him.

"Sorry!" Ender calls out, "It was just supposed to teleport next to you, not above you!"

Peter is holding the chair in shock, frozen, before he sets it down again. "No, you're good! Just, didn't know you could do that." He sets the chair down and watches as Ender visibly lights up.

"Neither did I!" the other boy is suddenly right next to Peter, "But I was just thinking about how I totally wished my water bottle would teleport to the fridge without me having to get up the other day and it just did! I've been practicing ever since! I even managed to take my dads car to Las Vegas last night!" He's gesturing wildly all over the place, and Peter finds himself smiling. Ender kind of reminds him of [Y/N], if he thinks about it.

"Oh! And if I focus really hard, I can do this!" he holds his hand up in front of him, looking at them intently, before a small blue ball of energy forms between his hands. Peter's eyes widen is shock as he leans over to get a better look at it.

"What's it do?" he asks, and Ender just shrugs.

"No idea. I haven't done anything with it yet. Found out about it last night, actually."

"Have you tried like... throwing it at something?"

"Is there anything in here you're willing to let me throw it at?"

"Uhm," he surveys the room before his eyes land on a cardboard box he'd been meaning to throw away for the past year, "that."

Ender looks at the object, brings a hand back, and throws it. It makes contact with the box, and nothing happens. The two teenagers watch for a few seconds to see if the reaction is just delayed before Peter speaks up.

"Guess it's just a light sho-" he's interrupted by the box disappearing and then reappearing in front of Ender's feet.

Ender jumps back when he notices the box. "How did you do that?" Peter asks, frantic.

"I don't know! I was just thinking about how I was gonna have to walk over there and get and then it was just... there!" Ender explains, kicking the box hesitantly with his leg before taking it away. Ender turns to look at him, and when the two make eye contact they don't even need to speak to know they both just got the same bad idea.

They spend the next hour experimenting with Ender's powers in a combat situation. It's a little jarring for Peter to be holding back Ender's fist one moment and then be falling from the ceiling the next, but he thinks that the disorienting feeling will be a good asset in battle.

Halfway through Ender trying to get the webs off of his pajama's and failing miserably, Karen speaks up. "A.I.T, Dr. Banner is on his way to your lab. I've informed him you have a guest and to not use your real alias."

"Thanks Karen." he says just as the elevator dings, and Bruce walks in. Ender seems to considerably tense up at the sight of him, and Peter assume that it's reasonable. Bruce is pretty intimidating when you first see him.

As Bruce finally stops in front of the two and smiles, Ender seems to barely be breathing.

"Hey, Spidey. What are you working on down here?" The scientist asks, looking out at the lab. It's considerably messy. The blipping of random items really did a number on the organized room Peter once had.

"I'm just making my partner Ender here a new suit. He's the one you guys have been seeing me in the news with recently." he motions over to Ender, and Bruce holds his hand out for the other boy to take.

Ender is still thoroughly shell shocked if his expression is anything to go by. His mouth is agape, and he barely even registers that he takes Bruce's hand until he feels the others grip. "You're... Bruce Banner." he says.

Bruce just sighs, and Peter kind of feels bad. He always gets fan of the hulk when he tries to talk to anyone new. He hadn't expected Ender to be one of those fans. "Yeah, I'm the hulk." he says in a forced polite tone.

Ender just frantically shakes the other mans hand while he also finally seems to regain his composure somewhat, "Well, duh, but I mean you're _Bruce_ _Banner_. One of these most renowned scientists of the twenty-first century! You helped design a car that uses little to no fossil fuels and emits less CO2, and _then_ designed the seed planters needed to help save the rain-forests with that same engine! You even made them so that they could be remotely controlled or put on auto-pilot so that no one would have to lose sleep over doing the planting! And, when I was like five you made those little fly bots that could help you take pictures of a room from hard to get angles that helped investigators find evidence easier, and the black light mode that made it easier to find cleaned blood! That commercial is what got me into robotics! And the fact that you were able to combine your consciousness into one being so that you could stay as the hulk but still have control over yourself is so impressive, I can't even imagine how hard that must have been to do!" Ender is still shaking Bruce's hand furiously by the time he's done talking, but Bruce looks much more proud about everything Ender just ranted about than he does when people talk about his achievements as the hulk.

"Uh, dude?"

"Yeah?" Ender asks, turning to look at Peter.

"You can stop shaking his hand now."

Ender looks back to Bruce and then to their hands before he frantically lets go, "Sorry! I've just always wanted to meet you. Never thought I do that while I'm wearing pajama's."

"It's fine! Always nice to meet a fellow science lover!"

The two are launched into a discussion about Bruce's newest project, something about making products like plastic and other things harmful to the environment biodegradable, and Peter watches them from the sidelines. Well, watches Ender. He's seen Bruce get excited about his projects a billion times by now, but Ender is a completely different story. Excited? Yes. Excited about science?

He can't seem to sit still. He'll be sitting down for one second before getting up the next to write down an equation or draw out an idea and showing it to them both. The smile on his face doesn't seem to end for a second, and when Bruce is talking he bounces in place as if he already has something more to add to the discussion. Peter eventually starts to contribute when Bruce mentions something about not being entirely sure how to disolve the materials without damaging the surface that it's on.

He isn't sure how much time passes before Bruce tells Ender that he should _probably_ do the rest of the work on his own, but he knows that it's quite a while.

"What did you come down here for, anyways?" Ender asks, much more comfortable with his role model than he was before.

"Oh! I hadn't seen Spidey over here in a few months so I wanted to come down and say hi." Bruce turns back to Peter with a grin, "Nice to have you back, by the way. The intern floor that still remembers you has been wondering where you've been."

Peter suddenly remembers the dozens upon dozens of workers he had been friends with before the blip. He hadn't even thought about how much they could have missed him. It had taken it almost twenty minutes to get onto the elevator and into the lobby because people kept stopping him to say hi.

"Sorry. I guess I was just trying to get used to being here without... him."

Bruce's face turns sympathetic, but he doesn't say anything. "Well, I hope I'll be seeing you around here more often then?"

Peter smiles, "Oh, definitely! Now that I'm back, I don't think I could stay away if I tried!"

When Bruce leaves, Ender turns to him, "What was that all about?"

"Hm?"

"Who's 'him'?"

Peter blanches and he's never been so grateful to have a mask on. Ender looks expectant, but he doesn't know if he can talk about Tony with him yet. "That's... something we should save for a later day. It's not really anything too important."

Ender doesn't look entirely convinced, but nods nonetheless. "Alright then. What do you say we see who's faster on their feet?"

Peter is thankful for the change in topic but smirks at the challenge, "You are so on."

_******* _

Ender had to leave about an hour later, something about being busy for the afternoon, but Peter stayed behind for another thirty minutes to clean up before going back home himself. He's sitting on his floor doing absolutely nothing when he hears his phone ring. He feels around for it for a few seconds before he checks the caller I.D.

"Hey, [Y/N], what's up?" he asks.

_"Yo, did you do the History homework? I totally forgot about it."_

Peter sits up, "Yeah, I did."

_"Sick! Can you send me the answers?"_

"Dude, no. Do your own homework."

Peter can hear [Y/N] groan, _"Boo! You're so lame!"_

"Well at least I do my homework." Peter teases.

 _"I was... busy!"_ [Y/N] retaliates

"Busy?"

_"Yes! I'll have you know I have a very hectic schedule most weeks."_

"Doing what?"

 _"...........Okay. Fine. I was too lazy to do it. But can you at_ least _help me with it?"_

Peter thinks for a minute. It wouldn't be too bad to help [Y/N] with his homework. At most it would take fifteen minutes, and then they could talk after. "Alright, sure."

_"Yes! Oh my God, dude you're the fucking best!"_

"Yeah. I know."

_******* _

They didn't stay on the topic of homework for very long, and Peter can't really find it in himself to be mad about it. If he's being completely honest with himself, he'd rather just talk to the other boy that do homework with him. [Y/N] is much more interesting than homework.

[Y/N] had made a comment about how stuck up and rude and honestly kinda deranged all of the rulers throughout history had been and Peter combated it asking him if he thought the people in power now were any better. It was obvious to see that no, he did not.

"I wonder if I would've been a good king or something." Peter says, to which [Y/N] laughs.

_"Dude, you'd be too nice for the times. People would probably call you a pushover in history books when in reality you'd just be the only sane person in a long line of sociopaths."_

"Hey! I can be ruthless!"

_"Peter, I don't think I've ever even see you insult someone without immediately saying sorry."_

"What! That's so not true!"

 _"No, it totally is you just can't remember because you're weird."_ someone says something that Peter can't hear in the background, _"Oh shit, it's nearly one already? Oh damn. Hey, Pete, I've got to go. I have a little part time thing to do today to make some extra cash. Turns out you_ can _melt pajamas with a lamp and now I need a new lamp. I'll talk to you later!"_

"Later." Peter says before hanging up. He leans back in his chair, looking up at the ceiling. He isn't entirely sure what he's supposed to do now. He would hang out with Ned, but tonight's the day of the week he isn't allowed to have his phone, and M.J. is at a rally of some kind. She refused to elaborate on it.

He spins around in his chair a few times before an idea pops into his head and he quickly scrolls through his contacts.

_******* _

"May! I'm heading out! Be back before dinner!" Peter calls out through the apartment. He'd decided that he should go and visit someone that he hadn't seen in a while after he'd gotten off the call with [Y/N]

"Alright! Don't do anything stupid!" His Aunt calls back.

"No promises!" And with that, he's on his way towards the station. He maneuvers through the bustling crowds with ease, a skill that he picked up from living in New York practically his entire life, and does his best not to piss anyone off on accident. Halfway to his destination, he gets a call.

"Hey, Pep." He says as he answers, a smile finding it's way onto his face.

"Hey, Pete. I'm out tonight for work, but we did get a babysitter. Try not to give him a hard time. I know how much you _love_ being the center of Morgan's attention."

Peter goes to defend himself, but she's completely right. Ever since Tony... left, Peter has been doing his absolute best to be like a big brother to the younger Stark. He like to think he was doing a good job, considering she already referred to him as her older brother and argued with anyone who said otherwise.

"Alright. I'll be nice." He says, and he swears he can hear her laugh on the other line.

"Thank you. He's a good kid, from what I can tell. I don't want you scaring him off with your big brother instincts."

Peter rolls his eyes, something he'd never dare to do to her face (jokingly or not), "It's not my fault that I'm protective."

"I know, Peter." she says in a fond tone. "Right, well I gotta go, but I'll see you some other time, okay?"

"Okay. Later Pep!"

"Bye Peter." she hangs up just as Peter gets into the subway.

**_***_ **

When Peter finally arrives at the familiar cabin in the woods, he notices Morgan running around outside near the pond with someone. The babysitter. Spotting Peter, Morgan runs up to him with a flower crown in hand and a huge grin on her face. His heart is instantly full, and he opens his arm wide for a hug. The small Stark returns the hug full force as Peter spins her around.

"I made this for you!" She says when he finally lets her back onto the floor. Peter bends down to her level and lets her place atop his head.

"How do I look?" he asks, putting a hand underneath his chin.

"Perfect!" Morgan says,

"You know, I'm gonna have to agree with Morgan." [Y/N] says, gaining Peter's attention as he walks up to the two. "I think you look perfect."

"Oh! Hey, [Y/N]. Pepper didn't say anything about the babysitter either. I just assumed it would be a Stark fanboy." Peter laughs, running a hand through his hair. Did he brush it before he left the apartment? Wait, why does that matter?

[Y/N] laughs as well. "If they wanted a Stark fanboy, they could've just made you their babysitter."

Peter lightly punches [Y/N] in the arm, doing his best to refrain from cussing in front of Morgan. He was _not_ a bad influence. "I'll have you know that I am very close with their family."

"Well yeah, I got that from the spin hug display I just saw."

"Peter." Morgan says pulling on Peter's jacket.

"Yeah, Morgan?"

"Can you sign this?" She holds out a picture of Spider-Man. Peter's face drops as [Y/N] leans to see what she's holding. Peter picks her up and hurriedly walks over to the picnic table before [Y/N] could see anything.

"What just happened?" [Y/N] says to himself, watching as Peter sits Morgan down and starts talking to her.

"Morgan, you can't ask me to sign things like that in front of others." Peter explains, making sure to be as sweet as possible. He may have been like her older brother, but he was in no position to parent another persons child. He was sixteen for Christ's sake!

Morgan looks down at the picture, then to [Y/N], and then finally to Peter again. She stares at him for a few seconds before she spoke again. "Will you sign it?"

Peter sighs. "Of course I will, Morgan." he takes one of the many multicolored pens (the purple one, because he knows it's her favorite) she has and writes; _'To Morgan Stark, you're absolutely incredible! Never stop being who you are, and always remember that I'm here for you. Love, Spider-Man.'_

Morgan smiles and runs into the house, past a still confused [Y/N] as Peter walks back over to the other teen.

[Y/N] glances over at Peter, who smiles after the younger girl. "You sure made her happy." He says, putting his hands in his pockets.

"Yeah. I'm like her favorite person that's alive right now." Peter brags with a tone of fake superiority.

"Well, not that it's a competition or anything, but she told me earlier that she loves me more than she loves cheese burgers. And she like, _really_ likes cheese burgers."

"Well she loves me like, five-hundred range. Cheese burgers are in the four-hundred range."

"How do you know I'm not in the five-hundred range?"

"Cause I'm in the five-hundred range. Only I'm allowed in the five-hundred range."

"Who said?"

"Me, obviously."

[Y/N] laughs, rolling his eyes before walking inside. "I gotta make lunch, do you wanna help" he asks. Peter nods before following after him and seeing him put on some random movie that Morgan likes. Peter sits down, watching as the opening logos started up. They sat through the first thirty minutes of that weird live action Dora movie or whatever before [Y/N] calls for Peter in the kitchen.

"Can you pass me that pan over there on the counter?" [Y/N] asks, motioning to the stove. Peter grabs it, and places it down in front of the other boy before he washes his hands.

"What are we making, anyways?" Peter asks as he dries off his hands.

"What do you think we're making?"

"Cheeseburgers?"

"Cheeseburgers."

The two work around each other in a pretty organized manner. Peter will got to grab for something and [Y/N] will duck before he even has to ask, or [Y/N] will just point at an object and Peter will hand it to him without either of them needing to say a word.

[Y/N] puts a burger on a bun with an obscene amount of ketchup and places the plate down on the counter before making two more plates for himself and Peter. "What do you want on yours?" he asks.

"Oh, uh. Ketchup and mustard, please."

[Y/N] scrunches up his nose a bit but complies anyways. He hands Peter his plate before picking up Morgan's and bringing it to her. The younger brunette bites down on it happily, making a mess of her face as she does so, and the two boys smile.

 _Babysitting is kinda fun_ , Peter thinks.

Morgan falls asleep shortly after the movie is over and [Y/N] carries her to her room for a nap.

"She really tuckered herself out earlier, huh?" Peter asks as the two sit back down again.

[Y/N] laughs, "Oh for sure. I don't know how she's so fast, but we were playing tag for like, forty-five minutes before I finally managed to tag her."

"Right! I just thought I was slow, but she's like weirdly fast!"

"Exactly! Who does she even get that from?"

"I don't know!"

The two laugh together for a few minutes before calming down. A comfortable silence falls over them, and they just sort of look at each other for a while. Peter doesn't know what [Y/N] is thinking, and quite frankly he isn't sure he wants to, but he hopes it isn't bad.

[Y/N] lets out a small laugh, which causes Peter to furrow his brow, "What?" the brunette asks.

"Nothing," the [E/C] eyed boy says, "just thinking."

"About?"

"Just... us? This?" he motions between the two of them, "I mean, we've barely been friends for two months and I feel like I've known you forever. Ned always manages to make me laugh when I'm pissed off, and M.J. is a breath of fresh air in a school full of obnoxious douche bags who think they're too smart for this Earth. I love Friday Fro-yo with you guys, or how you'll freak out if you see literally any dog on the street. And Ned's obsession with primary colors in threes. Or M.J. always having a book on hand even when you think she wont. And how May is like a ray of sunshine in the dark no matter how bad a day it is.

"Or when you laugh and it's so carefree that it makes me want to laugh, and when you smile you don't stop until hours later and I don't even think you do it on purpose. And how when you don't want to tie your shoes you'll just stick your laces into the side, and the doodle you have on your phone case that M.J. did, and that one shirt you always wear backwards and with a jacket because you accidentally stained it with a chili dog." [Y/N] laughs to himself, "I'm thinking about all of that."

Peter's face is flushed red. That was... a lot. Like, a _lot_ a lot. He's pretty sure that's the most detail anyone's ever notices about him. Anyone that isn't family, anyways. Jesus why is this getting him so worked up? It's just [Y/N].

Just his new friend [Y/N] that made him start talking about Tony again. Just [Y/N] who always manages to have a good attitude even when Peter is being an asshole. Just [Y/N] who never judges Peter for anything he does. Just [Y/N] whose smile brightens up a room. Just [Y/N] who trusts Peter with the things he doesn't even tell his sister. Just [Y/N] who is sitting across from him, telling him all the little details that he notices. Just [Y/N] who Peter Benjamin Parker just realized he is completely, and utterly, smitten for.

What? How did that happen? _When_ did that happen? Is that something Peter even _want's_ to happen? What if this totally ruins everything between them? What if [Y/N] hates him for this?

"Peter?" the other boys voice interrupts his thoughts, "You okay?"

"Yeah, sorry. Just thinking about how you tap things in Morse code when you get bored."

This time, [Y/N] flushes. "I didn't think you noticed that."

"I didn't, at first, but then you started doing it at lunch whenever there was a lull in the conversation and it was nice to focus on so instead of everyone else talking and I realized it was Morse code instead of just a random pattern."

[Y/N] nods, and the conversations shifts again. Before either teen realizes, Peter has to get going. He isn't sure where it comes from, but he gets a sudden burst of courage.

"Hey, [Y/N]?" He asks just before he leaves.

"Yeah, dude?"

He looks down at the ground for a few seconds before looking up, "Wanna hang out at the movies with me on Sunday?"

"Yeah. Totally. What time?"

"Five o'clock?"

[Y/N] smiles, "It's a date."

_******* _

"Ned. Ned. Stop. Please, my hair is fine. Stop it." Peter says as Ned attempts to fix his hair. He slaps the hand away, but they're back in an instant.

"Peter, you're going to need all the help you can get for this date. You're not exactly cool." Ned says, moving on from Peter's hair to his collar. Peter had called Ned for help on his look, and they had settled on his standard outfit with a button up.

"Ned."

"Yeah?"

"Get out."

Ned rolls his eyes, but lets go of Peter's collar. "Dude, I'm just being honest here. You're great and everything, but you aren't _cool_. Besides, who else is going to help you with this? M.J. won't and it's not like you can ask [Y/N]."

"Honestly? Anybody but you." He says, dragging Ned through the apartment by the arm. He pushes Ned out the door and closes it in his face before leaning against it and sighing. "May! I need date tips!"

**_***_ **

Peter stands outside the movie theater an hour and a half early, fidgeting with his sleeves and constantly checking the time. He's getting a weird look from the girl at the photo booth over her magazine. Everyone else's movies have started, so it's pretty barren in front of the theater and it's kind of weird to just hang out here.

"So," She says out of nowhere, startling Peter. "Who's the lucky guy?"

Peter looks to the ground, tapping his foot rapidly. Talking with her might help pass the time, he reasons, "Uhm, my friend [Y/N]."

"Dope." she says, closing her magazine and setting it down. "When's he supposed to get here? I know that the concession lines can be long, but most of the movies just started."  
  
Peter pulls out his phone and checks the time, "About an hour and twenty minutes."

The girl stammers for a bit, eyes widening. "Alright. It's great that you showed up early, but over an _hour_ early? Seriously, dude? Don't you think that's kinda... _stalker-ish_."

"I just really didn't want to be late."

"That doesn't mean show up two hours early! Jesus. What grade are you in, man? Like freshman year?" She raises an eyebrow.

"I'm a Junior." Peter deadpans.  
  
"You're a fucking _what_? You look like a middle-schooler."

"Fuck you!"  
  
"Save it for your date, stalker guy." She shakes her head.   
  
"Oh my God!" Peter groans, rubbing his hands down the sides of his face, "I'm not a stalker. Plus, my name is Peter. Peter Parker.

"Nice to meet you, but you're still totally a stalker for showing up so early.."

"Look," Peter looks down to her nametag for the first time, "Andy?"

"Annabelle." She corrects almost immediately, "The dumbass manager won't let me change it."

Peter nods. "Look, Annabelle, I've only ever been on one date and it was with a senior while I was a Sophmore, and I had to ditch her for work."

"Okay, so you're absolutely terrible when it comes to dates then. You couldn't have gotten the night off?"

Peter sighs to himself before continuing, "My job isn't really one you can just take the night off on. If they call me, I don't have a say in if I go or not." he explains, "And I've only known this guy for like a month, almost two, but he's _really_ cute and I'm a disaster so It needs to be perfect."  
  
Annabelle gives Peter a sympathetic smile. "Look, stalker guy named Peter. If you want everything to be perfect, and the date doesn't live up to that standard, you're going to say it was terrible and most likely hurt your guys feelings."  
  
Peter nods along to her advice. Following her every words like it's law. "Honestly, that's great advice, but I don't know how to stop thinking this way." Peter runs a hand through his hair, taking a seat on a near-by bench. "I'm honestly just tired of things going so wrong in my life. I want something to make all the shitty stuff worth it."

Annabelle leans forward in the ticket booth, giving Peter the most reassuring smile she can. "Dude, I get it. Sometimes life is just constantly kicking you in the guy and you want it to stop, but something being perfect isn't going to stop that. It'll give you a vest, but it won't stop the hits from coming. Besides, if you really like this guy, won't it be perfect no matter what happens?"  
  
Peter sighs, looking back up at Annabelle with a tight lipped smile, "Yeah. I guess it will be. Just, scared he doesn't like me as much as I like him and it'll end in a total disaster or something. That won't be fun"

"I'm sure he likes you perfectly well, Peter Parker." she says, picking up her magazine and opening it again, "One you get past the layers of crippling awkwardness and self-esteem issues, I'm sure you're quite the catch."

"Is that supposed to be a compliment?"  
  
"I don't know. Just take it as one."

**_***_ **

[Y/N] walks up to the movie theater and sees Peter talking to the ticket saleswoman happily. Well, they look more like they're having a heated discussion, and the fact that [Y/N] hears Peter yell; " _I told you, I was_ not _crushing on the T-Rex from Jurassic Park!"_ in the most defensive tone ever accompanied by howling laughter only confirms his suspicions.

He walks up to the pair with huge smile, tapping Peter on the shoulder to get his attention. "Hey. Sorry, I'm a little late. Have you been waiting long?"

"No." Peter says shaking his head. "I just got here."  
  
The ticket saleswoman rolls her eyes, turning the page in the magazine she was reading. Something about How to avoid eye-contact. "He's been waiting for like a century."

"Wow. You were waiting for a long time. You said five, right? Like I'm not super late, am I?" [Y/N] says, starting to get a little anxious. He was almost positive Peter said five. Did he mean five A.M? He couldn't have meant five A.M, that would be ridiculous!  
  
"Chill, wetdream." Annabelle says, causing [Y/N] to become slightly confused, "He just wanted to make sure he wasn't late. Not gonna lie, I thought he was a murderer or something cause of how on edge he looked. Glad to know he isn't a psychopath."  
  
"Annabelle, please shut up." Peter says handing [Y/N] his ticket, Annabelle just snickers, "I haven't gotten any snacks or anything yet cause I wasn't sure what you would want."  
  
"Just get me [Favorite Candy/snack] and I'll be set."  
  
"Alright. Come on, the movie starts in like ten minutes." Peter says, nearly sprinting to the line for snacks.

"Jesus! Why are you so fast! Slow down!"  
  
Annabelle watches the two practically race one another to the line with a smile on her face before rolling her eyes. Those two were weird, but she hoped to run into them again.

_******* _

Peter's leg bounces anxiously. Here he is, sitting in the theater next to [Y/N]. He had managed to ask him here, but he was much too scared to make any other moves. What was he supposed to do, be confident with himself? Unrealistic.

He glances over at the [H/C] boy, who is focused intently on whatever it is they're watching. Peter debate grabbing onto the others hand, but what if that's way too forward, what if [Y/N] gets weirder out by it? The possibilities are endless.

Peters's train of thought is cut off when [Y/N] taps his shoulder.

"Dude, are you okay?" He asks

"Huh?" Eloquent as ever, Peter. He shakes his head to snap himself out of his haze "Yeah. Yeah. I'm fine, just spaced out is all."

[Y/N] doesn't look convinced, but the guy in front of his shushes the two, so [Y/N]'s attention is turned instead to 'accidentally' kick the back of the guys chair. The guy turns back and gives him a glare, but [Y/N] just shrugs innocently and Peter can't help but snicker.

The movie continues on, to be honest Peter doesn't even know what's happening, before Peter has to go to the bathroom. He doesn't actually need to go, he just said that to [Y/N] so that he could come up with a game plan.

He walks over to the mirror, and just stares at himself for a minute. Did he always look so tired? He could have sworn he did his hair this morning, so why was it so messy? Did it just like that naturally? Why does his nose looks so weird? God, what is wrong with his face?

He sits in front of the mirror for God knows how long just nitpicking and criticizing little things about his appearance. His shoes don't even match his shirt, and that's bothering him a lot more than it should. Eventually, he decides that he's had enough ridicule from his own head and goes back to the theater.

[Y/N] is anxiously running a hand through his hair, not paying attention to the movie at all when Peter walks back into to their seats. When Peter sits back down, he's bombarded by things like; 'What took so long?' And 'I was starting to get worried' Peter hadn't even realize he'd spent twenty minutes just staring at himself.

He apologizes as much as possible, [Y/N] was a little too upset. Something about 'I thought you were going to ditch me'. The guy in front of them shushes them again, and this time Peter is the one to kick his seat, not even sparing the man a glance when he turns around to give them another dirty look.

The movie is over within the next thirty minutes, and neither of them remembers even a single detail about the plot.

"That was in no way interesting." [Y/N] laughs as the two walked out of the cinema, throwing away the empty bucket of popcorn.

"I wasn't really paying attention. So I can't entirely agree with that." Peter admits, rubbing the back of his neck.

[Y/N] chuckles, "I know you weren't. You were too busy staring at me like a weirdo."

Peter stammers for a bit, "No. I wasn't. I was just, staring at the wall."

"For over an hour?" [Y/N] raises an eyebrow.

"Shut up."

The pair walks home with each other, smiling and laughing with one the entire way. Peter can't help but make stupid jokes just to see his friend laugh, and [Y/N] can't help but make Peter frustrated to the point of no return, he says he finds it cute when Peter is angry, which makes peter more flustered than frustrated.

"Why would you say that?" [Y/N] asked after he's finished laughing his ass off.

"Say what?" Peter raised an eyebrow.

"That half the kids at out school would have probably been inbred in eighteenth century Europe?" [Y/N] quotes.

"I'm just stating facts, don't be mad at me."

[Y/N] stops walking, giving Peter a look, before he just turns around and starts walking in the direction they just came from and saying, "I'm taking the bus. I can't with you."

Peter forces [Y/N] to let him walk him home, and when they part ways Peter takes out his phone, dialing Ned.

" _What's up? How did it go?_ "

Peter groans, "I totally blew that."

_******* _

On Monday, Peter can barely take his mind off of what had happened at the movies. It was all he had been thinking about since he hung up with Ned last night, and by God was it driving him insane. He barely got any sleep last night.

He kept thinking about all the times he messed it up. Leaving the theater for twenty minutes, not even paying attention to the movie, making [Y/N] feel bad for making him wait. Jesus, what is wrong with him?

[Y/N] sits down at their table with a huge smile on his face. "Saturday was really fun, dude. Let's invite Ned and M.J. next time. Bring the whole gang."

MJ nearly chokes on her milk, while Ned covers his mouth with his hand, patting Peter on the back with his other one. M.J. sends him a sympathetic look.

Peter, whose world view had just been shattered, just nods with a fake smile. "Yeah. Totally. The whole gang." So [Y/N] hadn't even been thinking about it as a date. He's just been using a popular expression that people use all the time. Peter hadn't specified that it was a date, he's just asked if he wanted to hang out. _Hang out_. That's what friends do!

[Y/N] gets up to grab some lunch, and M.J. sets down her milk with a sigh. "You really had to catch feelings for a cute dumbass, didn't you?" She asks, picking up her notebook and beginning to make a sketch of Peter's dejected face.

"I'm not here." he says, resting his face on the table, "I'm in agony. No straights can talk to me until I'm approximately forty eight years old."

Ned shakes his head. "Dude, I told you to just be more straight-forward when asking him out."

"You told stalker man Peter Parker to do something _straight_ -forward. That was your first mistake." A girls voice says from a few feet away.

Peter looks up and sees a familiar face, smiling immediately. "Annabelle!"

"Stalker." Annabelle says, sitting across from him.

Peter rolls his eyes, "I told you I'm not a stalker!" he defends.

M.J. raises a brow, "Why do you call Peter a stalker?"

Annabelle turns to her with a smile, "He showed up to his date like two hours early yesterday."

"Jesus, he is a stalker."

Annabelle cackles at this for a few seconds when [Y/N] walks back to the table.

"Hey wetdream." Annabelle says, before doing a double-take. "Wetdream!"

"What does that even mean?"

The table goes silent for a few seconds. Mostly because absolutely no one believes that [Y/N] doesn't know what Annabelle means.

"Anyways, you said you got friend zoned, stalker?"

[Y/N] hears this, and looks... mad? "Who friend-zoned you? Was it that blonde guy in our chemistry class, cause I'll beat a bitch down if he was rude about it I'll tell you that much."

Peter smiles, but shakes his head. "No, it was someone else. Don't worry about. I'll be fine."

Annabelle watches the interaction, before it seems to finally click, and she motions to [Y/N] with a questioning look. Peter nods, and Annabelle looks like she's about to go wild.

The bell for next period rings, and each of them heads to class. Peter's and [Y/N]'s being Chemistry, which Ned always makes jokes about. Cause they 'literally have chemistry together. get it? chemistry like the class and also the term for two people working well together? do you get it?' It's a pretty dumb joke.

They sit in their assigned seats, and watch as Annabelle sits in the front of the class, sorting out some papers. She's sitting at the T.A's desk.

"Holy shit, Annabelle's out TA." [Y/N] says, slightly amused.

Peter looks up, and sure enough there she is. He sighs, "Fuck."

_******* _

"Alright class, we'll be starting on a project today." The Chemistry teacher says, looking over at Annabelle with a smile. "Annabelle has picked the partners today, and hopefully she's done a good job and her choices will cause some flirty banter between two people and a love story will blossom." The classroom is silent enough to hear a pin drop. "I'm joking! I'm joking! Now, Annabelle," Peter stops paying attention after that, opening the drawer he keeps his webbing formula in and stirring the concoction.

[Y/N] looks over at him, and his eyes blow wide. He stares at the back of Peter's head in alarm before turning back to the board. Peter is making Spider-Man's web fluid in class. Peter is making Spider-Man's web fluid. Peter is Spider-Man. Holy shit.

Of course, Annabelle partners Peter and [Y/N] together, because why wouldn't she. Out of all three of their friends at the table, she is the only one who has actually seen the two of them interact in a 'date' scenario, and in her opinion they need all the help they can get.

The project is something about making some basic ass chemistry equation and then presenting it in front of the class without blowing something up. Knowing the two idiots that are Peter and [Y/N], though, the school will likely need to be evacuated because they'll accidentally release a deadly toxin.

They sit in class, making tons of different equations to use. They argue over whether one would work, until the Chemistry teacher reads it over Peter's shoulder and frantically says that it would blow someone's arm off if they stood whiten forty feet of it. 

They don't go with that one.

Eventually, after nearly an hour of bickering with each other, the bell rings and they head to their last periods trying to come up with ideas for their project. [Y/N] comes up with the idea for a concoction that would make a seed grow faster, and Peter comes up with something that would probably melt through to the center of the Earth, so they go with [Y/N]'s.

By the time school ends they both decide that they should work on the project tomorrow because they both have homework that needs to get done by tomorrow and they can do the project in class. Although [Y/N] has something else on his mind, and as he splashes water on his [S/C] face, he decides he's going to confront his partner about it. But, in his own special way.

He sent Peter a quick text at around seven, asking him if he was free tonight to do their homework together on a call. Peter responds quickly with; 'Srry I'm working tonight :( I'm free for a few hours tomorrow though?'

And that's really all he needed before he's off on patrol. Patrol is honestly the highlight of his day. Not just because of the adrenaline rush saving people gives him, but seeing his partner in... reverse crime(?) also made him happy.

He makes his way to the usual rooftop, watching as the sun sets on the city with an anxious smile. New York isn't perfect, it was far from it really if the constant alien attacks were anything to go by. No place was perfect, but being able to make people feel safe was all he really needed in life.

He hears a familiar sound behind him, and turns around with a smile. "Well hello there, buckaroo."

Spider-man cringes. "Don't call me that. It makes me feel dirty."

[Y/N] raises an eyebrow. "Literally how? Like, what?"

"I don't have to tell you nothing." Spidey crosses his arms.

"Whatever you say, dude." [Y/N] sits at the edge of the building, playing with the hem of his shirt. How is this thing even intact at this point? "Hey, when is that suit gonna be ready? These pajama's are probably only gonna last another week."

"Should be done in like, three days." [Y/N] hums in acknowledgement as Spidey sits down next to him. "You good, E?"

[Y/N] nods. "Just worried about my sibling. They've been tired a lot recently. Says it's something about their job."

"I hope they feel better."

"You and me both, Pete."

Spidey does a double-take, turning to [Y/N] with wide mechanical eyes. "What did you say?"

"You and me both, Pete?" [Y/N] raises an eyebrow. If his hunch is right, thank God. If it isn't, he is stupid as shit and also definitely never going to live this assumption down.

"Who's Pete?" Spidey is sweating under his mask, getting more and more worried that Ender somehow found him out. Friend or Foe, he needs to keep his identity a secret. Shut up Ned and May don't count. Neither does Happy or The Vulture. And neither does M.J. Damn, he's really bad at hiding shit.

"He's you? Isn't he, Peter?"

"No." Spidey responds, his voice rising an octave as he lies.

"Peter B. Parker. I literally saw you making web-fluid in chemistry class." [Y/N] says as he crosses his arms.

Peter goes to say something else before he realizes what Ender had just said. "Wait, you're in my chemistry class?"

"Oh shit." [Y/N] says to himself before looking back over at Peter. "And so what if I am?"

"I won my bet with Ned." Peter laughs.

"Wow you're not even going to try and hide it anymore? You're like, really bad at keeping secrets."

"People keep finding out on accident, okay?"

"You made web-fluid _in class_."

"Literally eat a dick, oh my god."

"What does me finally getting a boyfriend have to do with you being irresponsible?"

"Boys! Something's going on three blocks away!" Karen says, showing Peter what building it's in and giving [Y/N] the coordinates.

"Duty calls." [Y/N] says, latching onto Peters arm and waiting for the okay that he can blip them both there. Once he gets it, he makes sure Peter takes in a deep breath. Blipping takes a lot out of people before they get used to it, and the last time Peter had blipped is over two months ago.

They land on the roof of an abandoned building, Peter coughing his lungs out as quietly as possible as [Y/N] shushes him. Peter's mechanical eyes narrow at him, but he turns to the action without saying anything to the other boy.

They poke their heads around the corner to look into the building and assess the situation. Some lady in a really obnoxious looking outfit is yelling at a guy, something about breaking priceless merchandise or whatever.

"Hey, aren't those the guys we put in jail like, a month ago?" Peter asks, pointing specifically at the guy with a scar on his right cheek from where [Y/N] has pushed him into a pile of containers. [Y/N] just hums in response.

"You useless piece of garbage!" The woman yells, her voice distorted by some sort of device in her scary ass mask. "I swear! If you want thousands of priceless weapons stolen, you have to do it yourself."

Peter begins to engage, before [Y/N] puts a hand up to stop him from moving.

Peter gives his partner a questioning look, "Not yet. We need to catch them off guard. They literally have tons of deadly weapons right now. Besides, it looks more like an arms deal than anything serious."

"Why not just engage now? Stop the chaos before the chaos can even start."

"I don't know about you, but the fact that a gun the size of my palm just put a baseball sized hole into that pillar is something I need to prepare to deal with. Also, do you really want a repeat of the Ferry incident a few years back?"

Peter looks from the situation, to his partner, before giving in. Ender blips them, instead, to the front of a home. Not anyone's in particular, just a home. A kid on the front porch just stares at them, dressed in nothing but a t-shirt that says 'Your ancestors would find you incomprehensible and your descendants will despise your grave' with cargo shorts, vape in hand. "What the fuck?" He says, they turn to him as a girl walks outside.

"Brady, why are all of the movies you own about gays but no lesbians? This is homophobic." The girl, dressed in a blue crop top and white high-waisted jeans completely ignores the two literal superheroes in front of her.

The guy, Brady, rolls his eyes. "I literally had sex with your brother last week, Jess." Everyone does a double take.

"What?"

"What?"

That's when Jess finally takes note of [Y/N] and Peter. "Why is there two fuck boys on your lawn?"

"Why is your girlfriend passed out drunk on my couch?"

"Touché."

"Uhm, you wouldn't happen to know where we are, would you?" [Y/N] asks. Brady turns to him, looking him up and down, before looking at Peter and doing the same.

"I can give you directions to the nearest coffee shop if you let me have a picture." he says, and the two can do nothing but sigh.

They take a picture with him, and he flippantly gives them directions to some place called ' _Foam Party_ ' as he uploads it to his Instagram. One he has directions, Peter grabs [Y/N]'s hand and slowly backs away as the two begin arguing over why Jess' girlfriend is, in fact, passed out drunk on the couch.

"Did you really have to teleport in front of someone's house?" Peter asks.

[Y/N] rolls his eyes. "It's like, ten at night. I didn't expect some guy to be vaping on his porch."

"Whatever. I think I recognized him though."

"You've probably see him at lunch. I've seen him around Midtown a few times. He's pretty smart, just a complete stoner."

"Honestly, half the kids at Midtown are stoners" Peter says, shaking his head.

"True. But we have more important things to worry about, here."

"Like the fact that you know my secret identity, and that we go to the same school? And that we're in the same chemistry class?"

"Like the fact that you thought it was a good idea to make web-fluid at school." [Y/N] crosses his arms.

"Right. That. But I hope you know I'm never going to stop trying to figure you out."

"I was hoping for that. Let's see how long it takes then, yeah? I say it'll take you two weeks."

"I say It'll take me three weeks. Winner gets to make the other do whatever they want."

"You have too much faith in yourself, Parker."

"Do we have a deal, or not?" Peter holds a hand out.

"Deal." [Y/N] says, shaking his hand.

A night of crime fighting and slightly flirty banter later, [Y/N] heads home. He changes out of his suit, and flops into bed. [S/N] walks into the room a few seconds later. She looks exhausted, as usual.

"Are you okay? I mean, I know you aren't, but do you need anything?" [Y/N] asks, sitting up.

"Just a hug." She says, [Y/N] smiles and motions for her to come over to him. He pulls her into a tight hug, leaning against the wall with her head on his chest. He missed doing this. It really has been too long since they hung out together.

"How was work?" He asks, playing with his sisters hair.

"Exhausting. But, I got shit done. And that's enough for me."

"How about that big project?"

"Ugh, don't remind me. It's stressing me out. I just want to crawl into bed and forget about it."

[Y/N] smiles as his sister yawns. "I get that. Just, try and get a better sleep schedule from now on. And eat more, I know you didn't eat breakfast today."

"Jesus, what are you? My mom?" She laughs.

"No, I'm your baby brother." He says, as seriously as possible. Causing [S/N] to laugh hysterically.

"You're such a dork. I'm glad I finally rubbed off on you."

"I learned from the best, really."

"Oh shush, you'll make me blush."

The quiet pitter pattern of rain sounds through the quiet room, the street lamps illuminating the room making it seem so cozy and warm. The sound of cars filling an almost deafening silence as the two siblings whisper to one another and made jokes, making each other's nights with just their presence.

The warm blankets making them feel at home, their pajamas filling them with a feeling of safety. In this little corner of the world, nothing can touch them. In their little room with a desk and a bunk bed, with little to no decoration except for the scattered remains of robots unfinished, they're safe. They're safe together, and no one can hurt them. And by God do they need that. It's spared the extra pain they've gained over the years. It's spared their hearts just that little bit more. They have each other, and that is enough for even just a moment as small as this. That is enough.

They talk for the next few hours, and as [Y/N] is telling [S/N] about the cute boy he went to the movies with on Saturday, she falls asleep. He should have been mad, but how could he be? She needs that sleep and he knows it. So instead, he turns off the small lamp next to his bunk and goes to bed as well.

They smile as they sleep. But a storm is coming, and it isn't one you can predict on the weather channel. It's one neither of them can protect the other from. Their whole world is about to be flipped upside down, and smiles will be far, few, and in-between after that.

**_***_ **

"Mr. [L/N]!" The English teacher calls out, snapping [Y/N] out of his thoughts.

"Oh, yeah?"

"This is the third time you've zoned out this period. I would hope that means you understand the text."

[Y/N] looks down to his book, he isn't even on the right page. "Yeah. I do."

"Don't let it happen again." The teacher turns back to the board, and [Y/N] flips to the correct page. It's been about three weeks since he and [S/N] shared even so much as five minutes together, and they have been pretty distant ever since that night in the rain. He hadn't realized how close they really were until she wasn't right by his side anymore.

And that hurts so much more than he ever thought it would.

During lunch, he sits around constantly checking his phone. He's waiting for a text, a call. Hell he'll be happy if a carrier Pigeon comes in through the window with a a letter from his sister, but nothing comes. It is absolute radio silence.

He doesn't want to bring it up, but [S/N] has started skipping classes more often, and her grades are slipping more and more. Not to mention the crime rate in the city was slowly increasing. He worried for [S/N] day and night, worried that one day he would have to be carrying her to the hospital, or one day he wouldn't be able to save her from a group of thugs.

She had looked battered and bruised one night, but she refused to tell him why. He begged her for hours to, but all she had told him was that it had to do with her supervisor. It breaks him. It really, truly does. To have his older sister be keeping something like this from him.

Peter has noticed the sudden change in behavior over the past few days. He wasn't sure what to do about it. He'd asked Karen what to do the night before, and after extensive hours of research he does what he considers to be the most logical thing to do in this situation.

He sits next to him, and he holds him the entire lunch period. No talking, just a hug. He needs it. They both need it. Annabelle tries to tease him about it with some looks, but once Peter sends her one back that quite obviously says, ' _Trust me, now it not the time to be doing this_ ' she stops.

After a while, Peter whispers; "Do you want to do something?"

"No. I want to stay here. You're warm."

Peter smiles down at him, but doesn't say anything else. [Y/N] keeps his head down for most of the lunch period, but looks up when he hears a few things hit his tray. Ned, M.J., and Annabelle all gave him their pudding cups and then continued on with their conversation like nothing had happened. He smiles.

Nothing has been going right for them recently. [Y/N] had gotten his new suit, yeah, but after that had happened everything went downhill. An old lady called the police thinking they had broken into her antique shop, when in reality they had just stopped the burglary. Hell they had even failed to stop the bank robbery last night and are getting shit for it online. They're absolutely exhausted, beaten, and bruised, but they can't tell anyone. Sure, Peter has Ned, May and M.J., but [Y/N] has no one but Peter, and even then does he really have him to talk to outside of their masks?

The responsibility is getting to be too much for them, until one day Ender just doesn't show up for patrol. He isn't sick. He isn't in danger. He isn't even in risk of dying. He just blips onto their usual rooftop in normal clothes plus his mask and tells Peter that he just can't do it tonight. He just _can't_ patrol and still be able to get up in the morning.

He spends the entire night in his room, in the place that had felt so comfy and safe less than a month ago, staring at the wall. There is no rain. There is no light shining in from the street. And there is no [S/N]. The room is cold and uninviting. Merlin is sitting on his stomach, running up and down it. It makes him smile.

On the other hand, [S/N] isn't doing too bad for herself. That big project she had been stressing over is actually almost done, she just needs to get those finishing touches done, and she's slowly climbing in her ranks. There's more respect for her than there was when she had just started out, and the pay checks she getting are really helping them pay rent.

They're two sides of the same coin, but by God can they even be any more different?

[D/N] finally found a job at an auto-repair shop, too. He's been doing pretty well for himself, starting off as a manager. He's still getting the hang of it, having a job after so many months job hunting, but he thinks that things will get better quickly.

Peter and Ender are patrolling, another quiet night (they've been having way too many of those recently), and Peter can tell something is wrong. "Hey, Karen," Peter says as he stands on top of the usual roof, Ender sulking about twenty feet away.

"Yes, Peter?"

"Can you order some chocolates [or some other type of candy if your Lactose Intolerant] for me?"

"Why?"

"I just want to make someone feel a bit better."

"Of course."

"Thank you." Peter sits down next to his quiet partner. Looking out over the city with a small smile. "Do you wanna do something? It's nearly five in the morning I don't think anything else is gonna happen tonight."

[Y/N] looks at him, "Do what?"

"Anything. We can head into that old abandoned workshop and just hang out. We can make it a hang out place. Our own little place."

[Y/N] smiles and leans his head onto Peters shoulder. "Can we just stay here for a while? I'm tired and you're warm."

Peter smiles. "A friend of mine said almost the same thing to me yesterday."

"Well, then I guess you're really warm." Ender grabs Peter's hand and finally looks up a bit, his head still resting on Peters shoulder.

Peter looks down at Ender with a sympathetic smile, even though the boy he's grown so close to in the past three months couldn't see it.

"Then its a good thing your skin is so cold."

_******* _

"I'm starting to think you idiots like to piss me off!" The boss of whatever secret organization they're apart of says, sitting in her chair as she looks out at all of the people around her. They're weary, shrinking into themselves as if that'll stop her from snapping at them.

She shoots out of her chair and slams her hands onto her desk, causing a few people to flinch, "How damn hard is it to steal from the facility? I knocked out every single camera there is, and you _still_ come back empty handed? I've been sacrificing time with my family just for you to fail."

"We're sorry Miss. But Spider-Man and-"

"I don't give a _fuck_ what Spider-Man or his little boy toy do, just shoot the kid like last time!"

They walk off mumbling among themselves and sending her frightened glances, and she walks around her desk to stand in front of the cork board outlining her plan. "We're almost finished setting up." She looks over to her table where multiple pictures of both Spider-Man and Ender are laid out, the boys faces crossed out in most of them,"We just need to get rid of a few pests and we'll be alright."

"Well that's easier said than done." A voice says in the doorway.

The boss turns around. "And you are?"

"Call me Saint." they say, "I'm the one whose been supplying you with those photographs?" The boss motions for them to continue, and they sigh, "Those two 'pests' of yours may be nothing more than hormonal teenagers, but they have skill. In fact, they're probably two of most skilled people out there that I've ever seen. Or at very least in New York. To beat them, you're gonna need a fool-proof plan. And there needs to be absolutely no mistakes. No slip ups. No weak links. It needs to be perfect."

"And how exactly do we do that, oh great and powerful one?"

Saint looks over at her, and smiles. "Easy. Find their weakness. They have to hold something dear. How do you think they'll hold up when that something's in danger?"

The Boss looks them up and down, "How do find that?"

Saint smirks, "You already know their weaknesses." they say.

"Do we now?"

"Of course. It's each other." he picks up a photo of the two boys drinking some sodas on a bench in an empty park. Ender is talking wildly, if the way his hands are held in the air and his mouth is open are any indication, and Spider-Man is watching intently. It almost looks like... a date. "Those two are constantly around each other. Relying on one another. Saving each other's asses. I'm pretty sure they'd disintegrate if one of them got so much as a paper clip."

The boss takes the picture back from them and puts it down on her desk, "So to beat one you have to separate them? Make it impossible for them to check up on one another, or save the other when they're in danger?"

Saint winks at her, "Bingo. Kill one of them. Kidnap one of them. Either way they lose their grounding and it makes them almost incapable to keep going." a buzzing goes off in their jacket pocket, "I gotta go. But I'll see you around, boss lady!"

She rolls her eyes as they leave the room, but turns back to the cork board and makes a new note for herself to remember later. She stops for a second, looking around her office. Nothing but barren walls and a single picture of herself and her family, a dog in her arms. It feels so sad and lonely in this little room. And it is. She's one of the head organizers for an evil organization called _The Flock_ for Gods sake. What is she supposed to do? Act like she isn't leading a double life?

Yeah, actually. She is. And she does. It is absolutely exhausting and she has no idea how people can do such a thing for years on end. As she continues to skim over her notes, her phone rings. She takes it from her pocket, and smiles when she sees the caller I.D. She takes off her mask before answering

"Hello."

_"Hey, when are you getting home?"_

"I'll be home soon, I just need to get my stuff together. My dumbass friends hid my shoes."

The person on the other line laughs, _"Alright, well hurry up. Dad's getting mad cause he took the time to make dinner for once."_

She laughs as well. "Maybe if I'm late enough he'll have to throw it out and we'll be spared."

_"Be nice, he's gotten better in the last couple of years!"_

"Alright, I'll be there in like fifteen minutes."

_"Alright. Love you, man. Bye."_

She smiles to herself.

"Love you, too, [Y/N]."


	4. "I always loved the rain."

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> And like that, our story comes to an end.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> !!!TW: SLIGHTLY DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF PHYSICAL AND EMOTIONAL TORTURE AS WELL AS BLACKMAIL AND BLOOD! IF YOU ARE SENSITIVE TO THESE THINGS, PLEASE SKIP FROM THE FIRST ### TO THE SECOND ### SHOWN!!!

"Shuri, it's not that big of a deal." Peter desperately tries to tell her, she just scoffs and sends him a glare. The two had been hanging out in Peter's lab for about an hour. Peter had changed into his suit when he got a notice from Karen that Ender would be showing up soon, and Shuri had demanded to know who Ender was, leading to their current arguement.

"Peter, you've been hanging out with another teen superhero and you never even thought to inform me! This is a very big deal!"

"You're overreacting."

"And you're practically in love with him!"

Peter flushes, crossing his arms, "No I'm... I am not!"

Shuri narrows her eyes at him, a sly smile forming on her face, "I was just joking." she says, and Peter's face reddens even more.

"Shut up, oh my God! I just think he's cool! Besides, I like my friend [Y/N] and we have to keep our identities a secret it wouldn't work out between us. Even if he did like me back, we just wouldn't work."

"Even if he liked you _back_?"

Peter lets out a groan, running his hands down the sides of his face. Shuri smirks, patting him on the back, "There there. I'm sure he's just as hopelessly pining for you as you are for him."

Just then, Ender blips into the room, "Okay, Peter, I totally just accidentally blipped a semi-truck to the Philippines by accident so if you see that on the news, yes it was me."

Peter raises an eyebrow, "How did you ' _accidentally_ ' blip an entire semi-truck to the Philippines?"

"It was about to hit me and I didn't know what to do!"

"So you can blip away from a bullet but not a truck?"

"Fuck off, I'm tired!"

"You're awake enough to blip an entire semi-truck to the Philippines."

"Literally die."

"Been there done that."

"Mood."

"Mood." Shuri finally cuts into the conversation, taking Ender's attention for the first time since he showed up. The blue clad boys eyes light up considerably at the sight of her.

"Oh my God! You're Shuri! I've been begging Peter to introduce me to you for _months_ but he kept telling me it was a bad idea!"

Peter is dying inside underneath his mask as the two enthusiastically high-five. Shuri then turns to Peter with an accusatory look, "I thought you said you had to keep your identities a secret?"

Ender barks out a laugh, "I found out his identity because he makes his web fluid in class. If anyone on this Earth ended up being worse with their secret identity than Peter I would be genuinely shocked. He sucks at this."

"Peter couldn't keep a secret for more than half a year without imploding on himself." Shuri says, and the two snicker.

Peter crosses his arms and takes off his mask, "You guys are bullies."

"Bullying, knock it off." Ender sings, which makes them both laugh even harder. When Karen plays the entire song over Peter's speakers, both teens fall into a puddle of laughter on the floor. Ender is in tears and Shuri is clutching her stomach in pain.

"This is the exact reason that I didn't want to introduce you guys to each other. You're gonna spend the entire time we hang out making fun of me."

"I already did that." Shuri says once they've both calmed down.

Ender blips himself into Peter's lap, "You love us, just admit it."

Peter gives him a blank look, a blush creeping up his neck, before pushing the other teen off his lap, "I plead the fifth."

"You wound me, Peter Parker. Truly, my heart is broken into a million pieces. I'm gonna pull a Juliet."

Shuri raises an eyebrow, "Juliet like... killing yourself or Juliet like the song by We The Kings?"

Ender looks up at the ceiling in thought for a few moments before answering, "Both. But mostly the Shakespeare part. I've always wanted to know what poison tastes like."

"It's not as good as you would think." Peter says, scrolling through his Instagram feed. Ender turns to him so fast Peter's almost worried he'll get whiplash.

"What?" he asks, "Wait a damn minute. I demand to know the story behind this."

"I also would like to know? Why haven't you told me about this?"

Peter sighs, setting his phone down on the table, "So it was about four months before the blip, and the boss of some criminal organization invited me to dinner so we could try and come to a compromise of some kind..."

_******* _

There's only four days of the school year left at this point, and Peter is no closer to finding out Ender's identity than he would a couple months ago. It's starting to piss him off, but he knows that patience is key. He just needs to think of this strategically. 

"Peter! Hey, dude what's up?" [Y/N] says with a huge smile, practically tackling Peter from behind with a hug. Peter falls forward a bit before regaining his balance. 

"Nothing much. Just eating some hot Cheetos."

"Oh shit, gimme some." [Y/N] reaches out to grab some when Peter pulls the bag away.

"Absolutely not." He says, shaking his head.

"I'll give you like a thousand dollars for them." Ned chokes on the baby carrot he has from laughing so hard. This isn't the first time [Y/N] has done this, it isn't even the tenth, but he still finds it hilarious for some reason.

"You can't. You don't just. You can't try to bribe me with money that you don't have every time you want something from me."

"Oh I can, and I will."

MJ shakes her head. "Really? You're going to do this again? In front of my salad?"

"You're really going to eat a salad in front of my lunch?" [Y/N] says, motioning to Peter's hot cheetos.

"Please stop, I am literally begging you."

"Please _don't_ this is the most interesting part of my day."

"I heard a thousand dollars from across the cafeteria and got here as soon as I could." Annabelle says, sitting down next to M.J.

"[Y/N] offered me a thousand dollars in exchange for something again."

"And you said no _again_? Jesus Christ, you're more helpless than an abandoned baby on the Titanic."

Everyone looks at her for a few seconds, before [Y/N] speaks up again.

"It's not like I'd actually do it." He shakes his head, "Y'all just don't appreciate my comedic genius."

"No, we just don't want Peter to get accustomed to being handed money on a whim." Ned says before sipping his Sprite.

Peter kicks Ned under the table. "That wouldn't happen."

"It totally would." Annabelle says.

"No it wouldn't! Literally how would that happen?" Peter questions, not even noticing as [Y/N] steals his cheetos.

M.J rolls her eyes, "It happened with Tony. You got so used to him giving you twenty bucks for lunch that you kept forgetting to ask May for lunch money when he was on business trips."

Peter sends her a death glare, he looks ready to kill and absolutely no one wanted to deal with that bullshit right now. "I came here to have a good time and I'm honestly feeling so attacked right now." He says with a sigh.

"Don't be such a drama queen, we're just joking." Ned says, passing Peter the Pudding off his tray. Peter rolls his eyes, opening the pudding and [Y/N] steps in after having been lurking at the end of the table for the past few minutes. 

"Let's just change the subject, yeah?"

"Please!" Peter says, and the conversation shifts to how amazingly fit Ender is, mostly because of Peter.

**_***_ **

Peter is laying in a hammock he made of his own webbing. [Y/N] had taken up his offer of making their own little hangout after about a week, and was currently curled up to Peter's chest. Of course, they were in uniform which [Y/N] was getting tired of at this point.

The two heroes have started hanging out more than actually patrolling. Not to say that they've been ignoring their jobs, it's just been getting less hectic recently. The cities been needing them less. Just last week they showed up at a burglary just to find the attackers already knocked out with a man holding a baseball bat above his head. They had to admit, they were impressed.

I mean, even if they had been patrolling Peter seems to be pre-occupied trying to find out who Ender is behind the mask, and he talks about him _all the time_. [Y/N] actually got jealous a couple days ago before he remembered that he is literally the guy Peter is talking about, and therefore has no reason to be jealous.

It's the moments like these, where the two of them can just be with each other and not have to worry that they both loved so much. Being together is a joy for both of them, and they're glad that the universe finally decided to let it happen. Peter holding Ender, and Ender holding Peter.

They needed things like this to happen more often. They really, really did.

"Hey, Ender. Can you move, I need to use the bathroom." Peter asks, breaking the comforting silence the two had.

"Oh, yeah." [Y/N] blips out of the hammock and leans up against a pillar. He refuses to lay in the swinging contraption without a warm body to lay on. More specifically, Peter's. (The guy is abnormally warm!)

Peter walks off into the direction of the nearest bathroom, which is about three blocks away might I add, and [Y/N] takes to scrolling through his phone to try and pass the time. HE gets bored in a matter of minutes and decides that now would be a good time to practice his fighting. After all, they haven't been doing much of it in the field recently and he would hate to be rusty.

He starts to jump around and practice his kicks, mostly he was just talking to himself. It's absolutely nothing groundbreaking, just how he needs to stop being such an idiot all the time. He even trips over his own feet during one of his flips and almost face plants. How embarrassing. He should practice his punches, but without Peter or some actual dummies to practice on that would probably be in vain.

The longer he practices his fighting style, the harder it gets to breathe with the stupid mask on. He could take it off, but that might be a bad idea. I mean, someone could walk in at any second and his cover would be blown. He surveys the area, listening for the crunch of feet or any sort of footfall in the distance. Nothing. Well... if he's really alone, it couldn't hurt to take it off for a few seconds.

He reaches up to his hood slowly, giving anyone a few moments to walk in just in case, before he pulls off his mask in one swift motion, taking in a few deep breaths.

Behind him stands Peter B. Parker, mask off and mouth agape. "What the fu-"

**_***_ **

"Peter, I can explain! Can you please just come down from there!" [Y/N] yells to Peter. He's pacing on the ceiling, hands in his hair with a pained look on his face. He stops pacing for a few seconds to look at [Y/N].

"No!" he shouts, going back to his pacing.

"I'm sorry I lied to you, I just didn't know what to do! I know I should have told you about my identity as soon as I figured yours out, and I meant to, but it was never the right time and every time I was going to tell you we got pulled into action, and... i'm sorry!"

"What?" Peter says, lowering himself down to [Y/N]. "That is not why I'm upset!"

"It's not?"

"No!" Peter says, finally being eye-level with the other teen. His hair is sticking up because he's upside down, and he can feel the blood rushing to his face, but this needs to be settled right now. "I'm upset because I spent literal weeks trying to figure out who Ender was, while simultaneously crushing on both you and Ender, and then worrying about how the hell I was supposed to deal with that! And then is turns out that you're both of them! I'm pissed at _myself_ for not recognizing you sooner. We met while you were in pajama's for fucks sake! I can still see half of you face, _and_ your eyes! I've stared into and fantasized your eyes long enough and listened to you talk for so many hours on end that I should have been able to tell it was you by week three of us patrolling together! Some fucking crush I have."

The two stare at each other for a moment before [Y/N], with a voice crack, finally says; "You have a crush on me?"

"That's the only thing you got from that?"

"That and the fact that you fantasize about my eyes."

Peter gives him an incredulous look before he lets out a small laugh. [Y/N] still seems concerned, but as Peter's laughter turns into a fit of cackles, he can't help but join in. They laugh for a minute before [Y/N] speaks again. "We're really dumb, aren't we?"

"Oh God, the absolute dumbest."

[Y/N] laughs again, crossing his arms over his chest. He looks uncomfortable, and that sets a light of in Peter's head. "Do you think it's weird?" he asks.

[Y/N] raises an eyebrow. "Do I think what is weird?"

"That I have a crush on you."

[Y/N] looks at the pale boy in shock for a moment before it transitions into a wide grin. "If it's weird to have a crush on your friend who just so happens to be a superhero, then call me one of the weirdest men alive."

Peter nods, looking back up to the ceiling before what [Y/N] just said clicks. "Wait what?" He looks back down to [Y/N], who's giving him the sweetest smile ever.

"You have really pretty eyes, by the way." [Y/N] says.

"Thanks."

The two just stare into each other's eyes as they forget about the world around them. This little moment in time was perfect, at least for them. [Y/N] plants a kiss on Peter's forehead, causing the pale boy to turn the color of a fire truck before he leans in and does something he's wanted to do for the past four months.

Peter softly presses his lips to [Y/N]'s, the other boy smiling as he kisses back. Peter has imagined how this would go so many times in his head, and never in his life could he have managed to think of how amazing the real thing actually is. [Y/N]'s lips are incredibly soft, and he's so gentle, it's everything he had ever wanted and more. Peter grabs [Y/N]'s hand and squeezes it lightly as he smiles into the kiss. He honestly doesn't know what he did to deserve this, but he wasn't complaining in any way.

Once the two pull away from each other, Peter can't stop grinning like an idiot, and, somehow, he starts to cry.

[Y/N] immediately goes into panic mode, placing his hands on the side of Peter's face. "Holy shit! Are you okay!"

Peter laughs as he nods, taking [Y/N] hands from his face and wiping away the tears but they just keep on coming. He doesn't know why, it isn't like he had just gone through any major heartbreak. Maybe he's just so used to being left and let down in his life that just being able to get a kiss from the guy he likes is enough for him.

"I'm just, really happy!" Peter laughs before giving [Y/N] another quick kiss. "You suck why couldn't you have done that earlier."

"I thought that all the jokes everyone else made about you liking me were literally just jokes!"

Peter sighs, shaking his head. "We're a couple of dumbasses."

"A couple of dumbasses indeed." [Y/N] says, examining Peter's face now that he's finally stopped crying. "Now your cheeks are tear-stained, you weirdo."

Peter smiles, "Totally worth it."

_******* _

Peter sits down at the usual table on the last day of school with a huge grin on his face and immediately Annabelle assumes something is up. "Why are you so happy? Did Flash finally get hit by a semi-truck or something?" she asks, looking around for the annoying bastard.

"Nope. Even better." Peter says, a huge smile on his face.

[Y/N] suddenly ruffles Peter's hair from behind before sitting down and giving Peter a peck on the cheek. M.J just shrugs, holding a hand out as Ned sighs and hands her a five from his back pocket. Annabelle nearly chokes on her french fry.

[Y/N] laughs, but doesn't say anything as Peter smile widens more than anyone assumed is humanly possible.

Annabelle throws a carrot at him. "You dick head! Why didn't you tell me sooner!"

Peter laughs as he tries to block himself from true oncoming attacks. "We just got together like last night. Let me be!"

[Y/N] grabs Peter's hand from under the table, rubbing it lightly with his thumb as he continues to eat. "Y'all need to shut the hell up, cause I'm honestly just trying to have a peaceful lunch." He says with a roll of his eyes.

"Well _sorry_ for caring that you guys kept a secret from me." Annabelle says, her tone defensive.

"It was only for like twelve hours. Less than that, even." Peter laughs. Annabelle loves being loud, everyone has found that out over the past few weeks. It's not something they mind, though. It makes the table more lively.

"And? God, you take more than a month to tell your friends you're trans and they keep their relationship from you."

Everyone at the table stops, staring at Annabelle for a few seconds, mouths agape.

"Wait, Annabelle, you're trans?" [Y/N] whispers, not wanting other people to overhear. It's not his place to make other people find out, on accident or not.

"I haven't told you guys yet? Oh. Shit. Well then, yeah. I am. Trans, I mean."  
  
"Haha, trains." Peter says, taking a sip of his apple juice.

[Y/N] stares at the table in confusion. "What the fuck is happening."

_******* _

After the kerfuffle that was lunch, [Y/N] and Peter go out on patrol with one another. The usual stuff happens, really. A few breaking and entering cases, a robbery on fifth, and even a noise complaint. It's just another a slow night as is usual for the two as of late. That is until midnight. That is when shit hits the fan.

Karen manages to pick up on some suspicious activity underneath the Brooklyn Bridge, and of course, being superheroes and all, the two teenagers that the city depends on go to check it out. [Y/N] wonders if the city would still be as supportive of their activities if they knew they were still in high-school.

"Look, this is getting on my nerves, Johnny. I just want to know where to find excessive amounts of explosives. It's not that hard!" Beneath the bridge stood _Raven,_ as [Y/N] had started calling her, as well as two other men holding some guy, who they assumed was Johnny, to the wall.

"Karen, who is that guy?" Peter asks, an electronic whirring going off in his mask as a response

"Johnny González. Nineteen. He works for a big weapons company south of Stark Industries. HE went missing about a week ago."

"Got it."

**_###_ **

Johnny, poor, poor Johnny, spit out what appeared to be one of his teeth as blood spilled from his mouth. "Fuck you, you bitch."

"Wrong answer. God, Johnny. And to think you could've gotten out of this mostly unscathed."

The sickening sound of bones crunching sounds from below, the muffled screams of a man in agony accompanying the sound. Peter looks down at the scene, Johnny has been hit in the ribs with what appears to be a sledgehammer of sorts, and by God does he look like he is in pain. He looks like he's on the verge of tears, but he's trying so hard to not give them the satisfaction of being the reason for those tears. So instead, he makes as pissed of a face as he can. If it were any other situation, Peter would admire the bravery.

"Now we can keep this going," Raven says, holding the metal end of the sledgehammer in her left hand, "Or you can be the reason that your entire family is slaughtered."

Johnny's eyes fly wide open at this, he licks the hand covering his mouth. The man keeping him from talking pulls his hand back in disgust, wiping it on his shirt as Johnny mouths off. "Don't fucking touch them! My ma and pa never did anything to you!"

Raven laughs. "It's funny you thought I was going to start with them. If I remember correctly, little Rebecca is at a sleepover tonight, isn't she? I can always just make that look like she was at the wrong place at the wrong time. Don't you think I could?"

Johnny shakes in the two men's grasps. Peter urges that they should interfere, but [Y/n] says the need to wait a bit longer. The more information they get, the better it is for them in the long run.

"Come on Johnny. Tick tok. I already have two guys a block from her friend's house. Isn't that fun?"

"Karen, can you get me that address?" [Y/N] whispers.

"Already on it." The A.I. responds.

Johnny is doing his best to keep his cool, but as Raven begins counting down from ten, signaling she's about to let the two about to massacre his little sister do their job, he snaps. "Brattleboro!" he yells, just before she gets to one.

"What was that?" She asks, slowing moving her thumb from the button on what looks like a walkie talkie. 

"The supplies are in a warehouse in Brattleboro, Vermont. It looks abandoned, there's a big graffiti of some birds on the side. You can't miss it." Johnny explains. He looks defeated. He failed at his job of keeping the supplies safe, but he saved his sister's life. Peter thinks that in the long run he'll find it more rewarding to have done so that have kept his job.

Raven smiles, pressing the button on the walkie talkie. "Raffie, Lucas. Move-in on the little girl."

"Ender, the address is 252 7th avenue!" In an instant, [Y/N] is at the side of Rebecca González, eight years old, sitting in the corner of her best friends bedroom as the sound of a struggle sounds off down the hall. 

Johnny looks up, "What! I thought we had a deal here!"

Raven simply laughs, "Oh Johnny. I never said I wouldn't kill her anyway." She puts her gear away and laughs when Johnny falls to the floor in defeat. "Come one boys. We have a trip to Brattleboro Vermont to plan."

_**###** _

As soon as Raven and her goons have left the scene, Peter swoops down to pick Johnny up and swing him to the nearest hospital. Johnny realizes this about a minute after the fact, frantically telling Peter that he needs to go help his sister instead, but Peter calmly tells him someone's protecting his sister and that she'll be okay. Johnny doesn't look entirely convinced, after all Peter is with him right now, who else could be with his sister? Peter patiently explains that his partner, Ender, is with her at the moment and that seems to satisfy the teen, who passes out.

Johnny is carried into a room as soon as possible to treat his wounds, and Peter attempts to find [Y/N] in the bustling midnight city. He assumed that he left the scene already, but Karen quickly explains that [Y/N] is being questioned by the police. He swings in the direction of the address Karen had given them earlier and finds his boyfriend talking to two officers, who Peter assumes to be Rebecca being held in a tight hug by her parents, all three are crying.

"You're okay, sweetie. You're alright. You're safe now. Those men didn't hurt you. I promise this wont happen again, baby." Rebecca's dad says to her, refusing to take his eyes off of her. Her mother begins to sob, and just before [Y/N] can slip away she pulls him into the hug. The entire family eventually crushing him in their arms.

"Thank you for saving our little girl," she says, before pointing to Peter, "and thank you for finding our son. We hadn't been having any luck in the investigation.

Peter gives her a smile, although she can't see it, "No thanks needed, ma'am. I just want you to know, though, that his biggest concern, before getting taken to the hospital, was making sure his little sister was safe."

A smile forms on both of their faces. "Thank you." They let [Y/N] out of their grips as they let their daughter be questioned by the police, still not leaving her side. [Y/N] grabs Peter's hand and blips them to the roof.

[Y/N] sits down, hanging his feet over the edge. "It's been one hell of a night."  
  
"It has indeed."

There's a comfortable silence between them for a moment as they look across the city. Still bustling, and yet calm. A beautifully terrifying sight. And that was their city. The city they risked their lives to protect.

And yet they couldn't save everyone. 

Because some people didn't want to be saved.

_******* _

"Hey, [Y/N], I'm heading to work. I'll be back by midnight." [S/N] says, poking her head through the doorway to the shared bedroom of her and her younger brother.

"Actually same, but I think I'll be home around ten. Try not to die, though."

[S/N] smiles, "I'll try not to." And like that she was out. [Y/N] scrambles to put on his suit, nearly tripping over his feet in the process, before blipping to their roof and waiting.

He waits for any sort of action, any at all, but it's unusually quiet tonight. It's unnerving to say the least. Just then, Peter shows up at [Y/N]'s side. "Hey." He says, grabbing hold of his boyfriends hand, "What's the sitch?"

"Nothing." The word make Peter's blood run cold. Sure, there were nights when no real crimes were being committed, maybe a jaywalker or two, but tonight was different. It wasn't just that nothing was going on, it was that _nothing_ was going on.

No cars are on the roads, no parties going on. Hell, not even a dog barking in the distance. Just the streetlights flickering, and the wind whistling around them. It's something that shouldn't even be possible, and yet here it is happening right in front of them. It should be peaceful for them. It should be a total dream come true. A night off! But, it isn't. It can't be peaceful, not with what they know is brewing currently brewing under their noses.

"So. What are we supposed to do?" Peter asks, swinging his legs over the side of the building.

[Y/N] simply shrugs. "We could always just hang around here until someone needs us."

Peter sighs, but agrees. This is the tenth time in the past month they've had to do that. There's not much to do besides go home, and that's too much of a risk. Quiet night or not. You never know what can happen the second you're changed into your regular clothes. [Y/N] takes out his phone, putting on a playlist of songs that he used to calm down and playing them in the background as he leaned his head on Peter's shoulder.

The two interlock their hands, staring out across the horizon with smiles plastered on their faces. Something about being together makes the two calm down. It makes them feel safe in a city where they can be killed at any moment. [Y/N] has never really had anyone other than his sister to help with that, and Peter, well, we all know Peter only really had two options for most of his life, and both of those are gone.

"Peter." [Y/N] says out of nowhere. Breaking their comfortable silence, as his voice overpowers the song, Talk to me by cavetown, that's playing in the background.

"Yeah?" Peter says, his eyes closed.

"Promise me that you'll never forget me."

Peter's eyes shoot open in shock. "What do you mean?"

[Y/N] sighs. "I mean that, if I ever to meet an, abrupt, end. Promise me you wouldn't forget me."

Peter squeezes the other boys hand. "Please don't say things like that. I don't even want to think about losing you."

"Peter. I need you to promise."

"I don't want to promise! I don't want to make a promise around your death! I can't!" Peter says, the volume of his voice rising.

[Y/N]'s eyes widen, "Peter, calm down."

"No!" Peter responds, "I can't calm down! I already lost Tony this year! I can't lose you, too!" Hot tears stream down Peter's flushed face, his voice cracking the longer he goes on. "I just got you, man! I just got something that really makes me look forward to school and getting up in the morning. I can't lose that! I lost my uncle Ben, I saw him die in my arms, I can't lose you too!" HE takes in a deep breath, lowering his voice considerably, "I just... can't lose you, too."

[Y/N] is absolutely speechless. What is he supposed to say? He can't think of anything to respond with. [Y/N] knows that Peter had lost all three of his father figures in less than a decade, and now his boyfriend of barely a few weeks is talking to him about his death? And he is the boyfriend! He needs to make Peter feel better, but instead he had began to cry as well. He doesn't know why, he just decided to blame it on the fact that he knew Peter is crying. It's a bullshit excuse, but at the time time it doesn't feel like an excuse at all.

Peter sees that [Y/N] is crying, and it only makes him cry harder. God what messes are they? Peter pulls his boyfriend into a tight, almost bone crushing, hug. And although [Y/N] can barely breathe, he doesn't want Peter to let go of him for a long, long time.

Finally, after what seems like an eternity, [Y/N] speaks.

"Then promise me that we'll make it out of this together."

Peter pulls out of the hug as [Y/N] puts his hand up for a pinky-swear. It's a childish gesture, which causes Peter's heart to melt. But alas, he links pinkies with the glove wearing boy with a smile. "I promise."

"No backing out."

"And no abrupt endings."

[Y/N] smiles, dropping Peter's pinky and grabbing his hand again. "Then I believe we have a deal."

Peter smiles, pulling his mask up just enough to kiss [Y/N] on the cheek. "That we do."

"And Peter."

"Yeah?"

"I love you."

Peter smiles. "I know."

[Y/N] scoffs, "Don't quote Star Wars at me, I'm trying to be cute."

Peter just laughs, "Whatever. I love you too."

"You better."

**_***_ **

"So, is it almost done?" [S/N] asks, swirling around in her chair.

"Not since the last time you checked." Saint says, obviously annoyed.

"Well hurry up. We only have a few more days before."

"Before your birthday! I know! I know! You want to spend it with your brother! Just let me work!"

[S/N] sighs before pulling out her phone and texting [Y/N].

 _[You]_  
I'm going to be home late, so don't worry when I'm not home by midnight. Love you!  
**_Read 11:03 p.m_**

**_***_ **

"Hey. Hey. Come on, stay with me here." Peters voice sounds through [Y/N]'s head. It's faint, but it's there.

"[Y/N]." Peter says again, waving a hand in front of his boyfriend's face. "[Y/N]!" This time, the [H/C] haired boy snaps out of his trance.

"Yeah, Pete?" [Y/N] asks, a smile forming on his previously blank face.

"You never told me the answer to number four." Peter says with a small chuckle.

[Y/N]'s laughs as well. "Right. It's the Spanish Inquisition."

Peter laughs triumphantly, turning to Ned, who had just asked for the answer to that question ten minutes ago and didn't get it, who complains about how Peter has boyfriend privileges, and therefore gets special treatment. [Y/N] debunks this by simply saying that if Ned wanted the answer, he shouldn't have threatened to throw Merlin out the window.

The trio are doing a summer assignment their history teacher had given to them. None of them _wanted_ to do it, but it's required if they even want to _think_ about passing the class (the teachers words, not theirs). It's due in two days, the day school starts up again, after all and they had procrastinated it long enough.

"Dude, Peter. Why haven't you been going out on patrol much lately?" Ned asks after they've finally finished the last of eight pages.

"Nothing to patrol. Have you not noticed how quiet the city's been?" Peter responds, taking a sip of some chocolate milk. [Y/N] hums in agreement to this, which reminds him that they never actually told Ned that [Y/N] is Ender.

"Wait, you know that Peter is Spider-man, too?" Ned asks in wonder. Shocked that Peter's literal boyfriend knows. Peter raises an eyebrow at that.

"I mean, yeah. We go on patrol together every other night, how could I not know? Also, if you thought I didn't know, why would you bring up patrol in front of me?"

It obviously hasn't clicked in Ned's head yet, because the next thing he says to Peter is, "How come he gets to go on patrol but I can't?"

[Y/N] sighs and blips onto Peter's bed. "You don't exactly meet the criteria to go on patrol, Ned." It appears to finally come together in Ned's head because he just nods in silence.

"Why do you powers look like you just threw an Ender Pearl?" Ned asks, causing Peter to shoot milk from his nose because of how hard he laughs.

[Y/N] stands up, grabs his bag, and says "I'm moving to fucking Switzerland. I hate it here. The humiliation."

"Babe, come back!" Peter yells after his boyfriend, still laughing with a milk soaked shirt.

**_***_ **

"Hey loser." [S/N] says as she sits on [Y/N]'s bunk. "What'cha up to?"

[Y/N] sighs, running a hand through his hair. "Questioning my life." His sister laughs at this, but nods in agreement.

"I feel that. But hey, if you're _ever_ feeling like you don't matter, just hit up DJ Cool ass sister M.C and she'll turn that way of thinking upside down real quick!" [S/N] says, causing her brother to laugh.

"I'll keep that in mind." [Y/N] nods, looking over at the clock. "Hey, shouldn't you be heading to work right about now?"

[S/N] looks at the clock as well, "Oh shit. You're right. I'll see you tonight. I might be home a bit late but I _promise_ you'll see me here tomorrow morning."

"I'm holding you to that! Oh, and I heard it's going to rain tonight, so be careful on your way back."

[S/N] smiles at him. "I will. Love you, bye!"

"Love you!" [Y/N] calls back before getting ready for patrol. He didn't know why, but he had a bad feeling about tonight. A really bad feeling.

**_***_ **

"Okay. Another night of silence." Peter says as he holds [Y/N]'s hand. The two are watching the cars pass by, it was more action than they usually got as of late. [Y/N] just hums in response. He doesn't know why, but he has a bad feeling tonight. Or, a worse feeling than he usually has. It just feels like something terrible is going to happen. He doesn't know what, exactly, but he knows it's going to.

The sound of three loud explosions accompanied by the sound of screams gets both of the boys attention, [Y/N] blipping the two to the situation immediately.

Peter tosses [Y/N] a concerned look as the two get into action. Peter looks around, but he can't see much through the thick smoke surrounding them.

"Karen, what's going on?" Peter says, trying to navigate through the smoke. However, Karen doesn't respond, it seems she isn't working at that point in time. Peter lets out a groan because of this, but does his best to figure out what's happening on his own. He sees [Y/N] blip anybody he can find away from the situation, it's mostly little kids, which he finds odd, until he realizes that the debris had once been the children's hospital. Wow. That's extra fucked up.

"Web for brains, I need to take these kids to the Hearst hospital, please be safe while I'm gone."

"No promises, Ender pearl." Peter says with a smile, even though he knows how serious the situation is. However, he hasn't been able to find anything. No criminals, no trace of any criminals, Hell not even a damn cough that might suggest another person is even there. It's absolutely silent around Peter. He can't even hear cars anymore.

"I see our little arachnid has been left all alone." Raven's voice sounds from around out of nowhere. Due to the echo it;s practically impossible to tell where it's coming from. "Where's your little boy toy? Ender, was it? Did he finally ditch you?"

Peter turns around, hearing some rubble move. "No. He wouldn't leave me. He's just busy doing something important."

Raven lets out a sickening laugh. Not of amusement, in fact, there's no emotion behind the laugh, it's simply a bland, cold, heartless laugh. It's a laugh that sends chills down Peter's spine. "How naive. You _really_ think the two of you will always be together? Please. Once he realizes how useless you really are he'll leave you like everyone else."

Peter shakes his head, he's not about to let this woman get in his head. "Just like your dad." Raven says, causing Peter to tense up. "Dad left you just like that, didn't he? Poor little baby, all alone. And he never even came back, did he?"

"You have no idea what you're talking about!" Peter says as casually as he can into the smoke. But she _does_ know what she's talking about. He isn't entirely sure he wants to know how she got that information, but he does know that she is doing whatever she can to get under Peter's skin, and bring him down mentally to the point where he wont even bother to fight back.

"You _really_ believe that little twink you're always with won't do the same. Be honest with yourself. And what's taking him so long, don't you think he'd be back by now? He can blip after all. Maybe he's watching you right now while you're helpless, alone, scared." she pauses, finally appearing in front of his a couple yards away as the smoke begins to clear. "Or maybe, I already killed him."

Peter's finally reacts to that last statement. He's visibly shaking, if you look for the movement, and his eyes are blown wide. "You're lying." He says, to which Raven smiles.

"Why don't you try and reach him on that little headpiece of yours and find out."

"Hey, Ender. What's taking so long?" Peter says, trying not to sound as worried as he does. There's no response. "I know you can here me, man. Where are you?" Peter waits a few seconds, there's nothing. Nothing but a faint tapping noise.

"'Ey, boss. We took care o' tha' Ender kid, what d'ya wan' us to do with 'im?" A voice says over the intercom that Raven has, it sounds out of breath.

"Throw him in the river for all I care. Just get rid of him." Raven says with a sweet tone to her voice.

Peter falls to his knees. This was exactly what they said they wouldn't let happen. This couldn't have been happening, it couldn't have been. Tears threatened to fall from his face, how could this happen. "Fuck you." Peter mumbles.

"What was that, I couldn't hear you." The smoke finally starts to settle, Raven's silhouette visible in the distance.

Peter stands again, clenching his fists, "Fuck you!" He yells.

Raven just sighs. "Sorry hun, I'm taken." She says, before pulling out a bow and arrow, pulling the string back and letting go. Peter notices this, swinging away just before it would've hit him in the gut.

"You're making this harder for everyone here, you fucking insect!" Raven yells after him as he props himself up on a light pole.

"Spider's aren't insects, actually. Although I'm guessing you don't care about the details since you attacked a fucking children's hospital. I mean, really! How botched do your morals have to be to go for a _children's_ hospital!" He says back before jumping into action. He shoots some webs at her, which she dodges easily due to their distance. She shoots another arrow, this time it lightly scrapes Peter's side, causing him to let out a noise of pain.

Raven laughs when he does so, "Sooner or later, you're going to be just like dear old dad." She shoots another arrow his way, this time it his him right in the leg.

"Fuck." He whispers, pulling it out and using his webbing to stop his bleeding. Raven is about three hundred feet away as Peter begins to realize that, maybe he is going to fail here. He doesn't have [Y/N] for moral support, he doesn't have anyone there to help him. He can't walk, without help and his webbing is running low. He'd neglected to refill it on account of thinking nothing would happen tonight.

He's done for, and he knows it. He can't believe it. He's finally going to die doing what he loved, saving people, but without the people he loves around him. He's going to be abandoning May, Ned, M.J., Annabelle, Pepper, Morgan, everybody. He's going to die because he couldn't keep his emotions in check when he found out that [Y/N] died.

He's going to die.

His fists clench. He's going to die and he can't do anything about it. He punches the ground as hard as he can in a fit of range, when suddenly a faint voice in Peter's ear says, "Hey" causing him to look around. 

"Don't look around, dumbass. Go back to what your were doing." Peter isn't sure if he should, but resumes looking as defeated as possible anyways, what did he have to lose at this point?

"Who is this?" He whispers, obviously confused.

"Oh come on, can't even recognize your own boyfriends voice? All they did was knock me out. Idiots forgot to, oh I don't know, keep an eye on me? Tie me up? Lock me somewhere? Even if I _was_ dead, you're really just going to leave he room?" Peter can practically hear [Y/N] rolling his eyes, "Wait, did you actually think they could kill me? Wow. Nice to know you have faith in me.

Peter smiles to himself. Of course [Y/N]'s okay, why wouldn't he be okay? Peter has no idea how he managed to convince himself that the blue boy was dead. Ye of little faith, I suppose.

"Well then, are you going to come and help me, or make me keep looking like I'm having a breakdown as a total sociopath comes to kill me?"

[Y/N] laughs, "Needy." He blips to Peter's side, hugging him tightly.

Raven was obviously planning on giving some villain speech when she got to Peter, but seeing Ender causes her to do a double take. She lets out a frustrated groan. "Can you bastards stay down for one _fucking_ minute!"

The two look at her, then back to each other. [Y/N] finally looks back to her with a smile, "Nope." And just like that, he charges at her. Peter uses all the strength he has left to pull himself up and make some sort of makeshift cover for himself from the debris as the two duke it out around him.

[Y/N] throws a punch, and Raven kicks him in the stomach. He falls back about, regaining his footing just in time to duck under another kick and kick out her own footing. Raven grabs ahold of him and pulls her down with her. She rolls on top of him, about to land a punch before he blips away. 

It's a never ending cycle of the two beating the absolute shit out of each other. [Y/N] will land a good hit, before she catches him off guard and does the same. She'll be about to finish him off before he blips away. Over and over again. It's captivating, and Peter can't take his eyes off of them.

Eventually, [Y/N] gets an arrow to the hip, causing him to fall to the ground. He can't blip while he's in pain, they'd tested it out before and he had just passes out, so Peter knows that whatever is about to happen is bad. He holds his breath in anticipation as the rumble of thunder in the distance makes Raven's approach even more intimidating. 

When she reaches him, she looks down at him with a smile, reaching for his mask. "I hate to take away your privacy, but I _really_ want to see the look on your face as I drain the life out of you." She grabs a handful of [Y/N]'s mask. [Y/N] grabs her wrist in an attempt to stop her, but it doesn't do anything. She slowly pulls off his mask, throwing it to the side before finally making eye contact with him. Her entire demeanor changes in a split second as she does so. Her eyes blown wide, and her breathing becoming unsteady.

"Fuck." She mumbles to herself. [Y/N] takes the fact that she has her guard down to take a pole from the debris and push it through her gut. Blood splattering as he does so. She lets out a gurgling noise, coughing up a bit of blood onto [Y/N]'s face. He takes out the pole with a sigh, taking the arrow out of his side as well with a wince.

She falls to the ground, her hand ghosting over the wound that's pouring blood. Red stains the cement just in front of her. She lets out a gasp as rain begins to fall around them all. As [Y/N] turns to walk away, she takes off her own mask and tries to muster up the strength to call out to the [H/C] haired boy. "[Y/N]." She says in a broken voice, causing the teen to turn around and finally face the person he had been so adamant on defeating just minutes before.

When he sees her, he blips to her side and holds her shoulders, examining her. The pole had gone in one side and out the other, ironically enough they could really use a hospital right now. She falls backward, splaying her legs out, and [Y/N] can do nothing but cradle her in his arms. He gives her a shaky smile as the rain wets his hair, fresh tears falling down his face. "[S/N] you're gonna be okay. It's all going to be okay, alright? We're going to be fine. I can fix this, I can save you. We're just gonna... fuck I don't know what we're gonna do but you're gonna be alright!" His voice his shaking, his sisters blood soaking his clothes and staining his skin.

She looks up at him with tears in her eyes. She holds the side of his face. "It's okay. Don't worry about me. This isn't your fault."

"Like hell it isn't!" He yells in protest, but [S/N] simply covers his mouth.

"You're gonna be okay, [Y/N]. You can save so many more people." [S/N] brings in a shaky breath, her eyes getting heavier by the minute. "This one is one me. I should have known this could happen when I took this job. I really should have known. Fuck, why couldn't I have just gotten a normal job." her voice is shaking so much, getting quieter by the second, and [Y/N] is having trouble differentiating the rain on her skin from her tears. "[Y/N]. I'm sorry." She whispers.

She looks up to the sky with a smile, "I always loved the rain." She laughs to herself, letting out a final breath.

[Y/N]'s eyes are blown wide. "Hey. Hey. Wake up. Come on you promised me you'd come home tonight. You never break your promises. Don't start now." He shakes his sister, trying desperately to bring her back. "God fucking damnit! You promised me! You aren't allowed to break your fucking promises! We made a pact when I came home the first day! If we ever break a promise we have to do the others laundry!" his shoulder shake as he sobs violently, his throat burning from all of his yelling, "You can't just get out of doing my laundry that easily! I won't fucking let you!"

He pulls his face into her chest. He doesn't know what to do. He can't just let this happen. He can't. He can't let her die at his hands. He just can't.

Peter puts a hand on his boyfriend's shoulder, "We have to go." He says as the sound of police sirens finally registers. [Y/N] doesn't budge for a minute. He just keeps [Y/N] in his arms, whispering to her as he rocks back and forth. Peter doesn't force him to move, he gets it. He completely understands. The police practically had to pry him off of uncle Ben when they arrived at the scene.

As the sirens get even closer, [Y/N] finally realizes that his sister isn't going to be coming home with him. She isn't going to be doing his laundry later tonight.

He gives her once last hug before he lays her down on the ground. He doesn't even bother standing up before grabbing Peter's hand and blipping them to his and [S/N]'s- no, just his - room.

He doesn't change out of his suit or speak, or even try to tend to his own wounds before he climbs up the ladder to [S/N]'s bunk and curls himself into her blankets, sobbing violently. Peter almost leaves, he knows how hard this moment is for someone. He knows how hard it is to watch someone you love die in your arms, but this has an entire other variable. [S/N] died and [Y/N] is the one that did it. Peter can't relate to that.

He doesn't blame [Y/N] in any way, he'd feel like an asshole for doing that, but he can understand how much more guilty that could make someone feel than just watching it happen and not being able to do anything about.

Peter can almost hear his own cries of Ben's name as he stares out the window, the thunder almost deafening in the quiet of the night. He can feel his hand wetting, can see the red of the blood on his hands. Most importantly, when he looks up, he can see [Y/N] in pain.

He climbs the ladder to the top bunk and positions himself next to [Y/N], opening his arms and waiting for the other boy to come to him embrace. It doesn't happen for a while, but Peter waits. He waits until the other is ready and accepts the way he clings to his body when he is. He accepts the way that [Y/N] does nothing but sob for the next four hours. He accepts that [Y/N] refuses to open his eyes. He accepts that when [Y/N] does change out of his suit, it's into his sisters favorite shirt. He accepts that [Y/N] doesn't want Peter to leave.

He accepts that when [D/N] comes into the room, eyes brimming with tears, that [Y/N] doesn't want to hear it. He accepts that he practically has to force [Y/N] to eat breakfast that morning. He accepts that all [Y/N] wants to do that day is watch [S/N]'s favorite movies. He accepts that [Y/N] doesn't want anyone to talk all day. He accepts that [Y/N] doesn't want to talk. He accepts that [Y/N] refuses to be alone for longer than ten minutes. He accepts it all.

He accepts it all because he's done it all before. He did it when Uncle Ben died, and then again (although at a much less extreme level), when Tony did. He knows how this works, and he's glad that [Y/N] even eats right now. May sends Peter dozens of texts, telling Peter to send the mourning boy her love and grievances when he's ready to hear them. The group chat is silent for once, but Peter is getting everyone's messages to [Y/N] saying their apologies.

[D/N] takes it hard. He starts to drink, and Peter can't exactly blame him but it does make him concerned nonetheless. He stops going to work, and if the voicemails the household is getting on their home phone are any indication that isn't a problem with his job, but Peter hopes that he'll be okay enough to go back soon. As much as he understands not wanting to do anything, he doesn't want them to lose their house amidst all of the grieving.

Their front door is bombarded with flowers and gifts from all over the building. [S/N]'s girl-friend, Andi, comes over to introduce herself to the family. Apparently the two had been dating for about two weeks, and had been planning to introduce each other to their families a week later. Peter thinks she's nice. [Y/N] doesn't talk the entire time she's there. She leaves with promises of returning. Neither of the [L/N] men acknowledge that promise, and Peter waves her off with a smile. He has her number in his phone, but he doubts he'll ever actually use it.

When [Y/N] is finally okay enough to talk, Peter says that he finds it fitting that it's been raining for the past two days in an attempt to lighten the mood. 

[Y/N] says that the sound of rain hitting his bedroom window doesn't sound as comforting as he once thought it did.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you for reading!!! I'm so sorry that I ended it on such a sad note, but this isn't the end! I have a sequel and some in-between mini fics that I plan on writing, so stay tuned for those!
> 
> I hope you all enjoyed the first part of the 'Off The Wall Cinematic Universe', and I can't wait to share the rest of it with you!
> 
> You can also find me on [my tumblr!](https://youselfishasshole.tumblr.com)
> 
> All the best and kind regards,  
> Mikey:)
> 
> (p.s. big shout-out to [Vepel](https://www.tumblr.com/blog/view/lovinqthela) and [Rae](https://the-final-raven.tumblr.com) for encouraging me to re-write this fic! It means a lot to me <3)


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